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FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND,  ELIZABETH 

OF  BOHEMIA,  MARY  OF  ORANGE, 

HENRIETTA  OF  ORLEANS, 

SOPHIA  OF  HANOVER 


EDITED   BY 

Robert   S.    Rait 
Fellow  and  Lecturer  of  New  College,  Oxford 


N  E  W  -  Y  O  R  K 

E.    p.    DUTTON    &    Co. 

1 902 


PREFACE 


For  the  nature  of  the  present  work,  no  apology  would 
seem  to  be  required.  The  personal  aspect  of  history  is 
at  once  important  for  the  proper  appreciation  of  its  lessons 
and  attractive  to  the  majority  of  readers,  and  both  con- 
siderations go  far  to  justify  the  existence  of  biographical 
studies  as  a  legitimate  expression  of  the  results  of  historical 
research.  For  the  immediate  choice  of  subject  some  further 
explanation  may  be  required.  Of  the  five  Princesses  of 
the  Royal  House  of  Stuart*  who  form  the  subjects  of  this 
volume,  four  were  nearly  related,  and  their  lives  find  a 
connecting  link  in  the  position  in  which  they  stood  to 
the  succession  to  the  throne  of  this  country.  Elizabeth  of 
Bohemia  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  King  James  I.  and  VL, 
and  the  mother  of  the  Electress  Sophia,  the  illustrious 
lady  who  was  destined  to  become  the  acknowledged  heiress 
of  the  British  Crown,  and  the  ancestress  of  the  present 
Royal  House.  The  Princess  Mary  of  Orange,  as  the 
daughter  of  Charles  I.  and  the  first  Princess  Royal  of 
England,  while  also  the  mother  of  William  III.,  supplies 
the  link  between  the  ancient  family  and  the  House  of 
Orange  which  immediately  supplanted  it.     To  the  Princess 

1  Historically,  the  spelling  "Stewart"  was  not  superseded  by  "Stuart" 
till  the  l6th  century,  and  it  is,  therefore,  slightly  inaccurate  as  applied  to 
the  Princess  Margaret  of  Scotland.  In  her  biography,  the  older  spelling 
has  been  adopted,  but  "  Stuart "  has  become  so  familiar  in  connexion  with 
the  seventeenth  century,  that  it  seemed  pedantic  to  depart  from  it  as  the 
general  title  of  the  book. 


226484 


VI  PREFACE 

Henrietta/  the  negotiator  of  the  fatal  Treaty  of  Dover, 
which  may  be  taken  as  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
of  1688,  there  came  the  nemesis  that  her  descendants,  the 
nearest  branch  of  the  Royal  family,  should,  along  with  the 
direct  male  line  itself,  be  rendered  incapable  of  the  suc- 
cession by  those  difficulties  of  religious  faith  in  which  the 
secret  clauses  of  the  Treaty  of  Dover  definitely  involved 
the  restored  Stuarts. 

Not  only  is  there  in  each  life  a  point  of  contact  with 
the  domestic  struggle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  but  the 
four  princesses,  as  they  appear  on  the  stage  of  European 
politics,  supply  almost  a  continuous  history  of  the  foreign 
policy  of  this  country.  The  life  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia 
is  a  pathetic  commentary  on  the  attitude  of  James  I.  to 
foreign  affairs — wise  and  statesmanhke  in  his  aims,  but  in- 
capable of  understanding  how  impossible  was  their  reali- 
zation. As  the  Thirty  Years'  War  became  merely  a  duel 
between  France  and  Spain,  the  troubled  monarchy  of 
Great  Britain  counted  for  less  in  the  arbitrament  of  the 
affairs  of  Europe ;  but  the  career  of  Mary  of  Orange  illus- 
trates at  once  the  last  despairing  efforts  of  Charles  I.  and 
the  policy  of  his  uncrowned  successor.  Oliver  Cromwell 
and  Mary  of  Orange  disappeared  together  from  the  scene, 
and,  with  the  Restoration,  the  favourite  sister  of  Charles  II., 
and    the    beloved    sister-in-law   of  Louis  XIV.,  became  an 

1   The  following  table  shows  the  relationships  of  the  four  Princesses. 
King  James  VI.  and  I. 

I 

Charles  I.  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia 


r 


Sophia  of  Hanover 


Mary  of  Orange       Henrietta  of  Orleans  I 

j  George  I, 

William  lU. 


PREFACE  Vn 

important  factor  at  a  great  crisis  in  the  history  of  Europe. 
For  Great  Britain,  for  Holland,  for  France  and  Germany 
alike,  the  direct  results  of  the  Treaty  of  Dover  were  of 
European  importance;  the  English  Revolution,  the  tempo- 
rary greatness  of  the  Dutch,  and  the  rise  of  Prussia  are 
all  connected  with  the  struggle  against  the  aggrandisement 
of  France,  in  the  interests  of  which  Louis  sent  Henrietta 
to  treat  with  King  Charles.  Finally,  it  was  in  the  interests 
of  the  Protestant  Succession  as  represented  by  the  Electress 
Sophia,  that  Marlborough  was  sent  to  create  the  military 
power  of  this  country  in  the  War  of  the  Spanish  Succes- 
sion, and  the  alliance  of  the  Hanoverian  House  was  valued 
alike  by  King  William  and  by  the  advisers  of  Queen  Anne. 
In  each  of  the  four  lives  there  is  also  much  of  personal 
and  social  interest.  The  beautiful  Queen  of  Bohemia,  the 
heroine  of  Protestant  England,  in  whose  behalf  so  many 
English  prayers  were  uttered  and  so  many  English  lives 
were  spent,  and  Mary  of  Orange,  whose  life  was  almost 
tragic  in  its  long  struggle  and  its  brief  triumph,  alike  possess 
the  interest  of  high-spirited  and  strenuous  endeavour.  The 
story  of  the  fascinating  Henrietta,  the  centre  of  the  Court  of 
the  Bourbons  at  the  moment  when  French  prestige  was 
highest,  affords  us  many  glimpses  of  the  life  at  Saint  Cloud 
and  Versailles  in  the  early  years  of  Louis  Le  Grand,  and 
its  pathetic,  and,  to  contemporaries,  mysterious  ending  con- 
tributes the  aspect  of  sadness  and  melancholy  which  was 
inevitable  in  the  life  of  a  lady  of  the  House  of  Stuart. 
It  may,  at  first,  seem  questionable  whether  Sophia,  Elec- 
tress of  Hanover,  by  birth  a  Princess  Palatine,  and  a 
Guelph  by  marriage,  could  reasonably  find  a  niche  in  a 
gallery  of  Stuart  Princesses;  but  the  lady  who  unites  the 
elder  with  the  younger  branch,  who,  in  virtue  of  her 
Stuart  blood,  was  declared  Queen  Anne's  successor,  and 
from  whose  relationship  to  King  James,  the  reigning  sovereign 


Vm  PREFACE 

of  these  realms,  like  his  six  immediate  predecessors, 
derives  his  claim  under  the  Act  of  Settlement,  may 
surely  be  granted  such  a  title.  Sophia  was,  moreover,  a 
Stuart  by  birthright,  and  long  before  the  English  succes- 
sion could  have  appeared  possible  for  herself,  she  regarded 
herself  as  an  English  Princess.  Her  lively  memoirs  and 
her  sprightly  letters  make  her  a  real  and  vivid  personaHty, 
and  illustrate  the  social  and  intellectual  life  of  her  period. 

The  remaining  biography,  which  stands  first  in  order  of 
date,  it  would  be  impossible  to  associate  in  any  way 
with  those  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Nearly  three  hun- 
dred years  separate  the  birth  of  Margaret  of  Scotland  and 
the  death  of  Sophia  of  Hanover.  Nor  is  it  possible  to 
connect  the  Princess  Margaret  with  any  great  national 
movement,  as  the  other  four  may  be  connected  with  the 
struggle  for  constitutional  liberty.  Her  life  possesses  many 
points  of  interest  in  the  relationship  of  fifteenth-century 
France  and  Scotland ;  it  is  one  of  those  episodes  in  history 
which  can  never  fail  to  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  to 
the  emotions;  and  it  is  a  story  little  known.  Only  com- 
mon Stuart  blood  and  a  common  Stuart  fate  connect 
Margaret  with  the  seventeenth-century  Princesses  of  her 
Plouse,  and  the  short  sketch  of  her  life  is  included  here 
only  because  it  is  a  convenient  opportunity  to  relate  a 
story  worth  telling  again. 

How  far  this  book  has  succeeded  in  taking  due  advan- 
tage of  the  possibilities  just  indicated,  it  must  be  for  read- 
ers to  decide.  But  the  editor  may  be  allowed  to  say,  on 
behalf  of  his  contributors,  that  each  biography  has  been 
written  after  a  careful  study  of  authorities,  contemporary 
and  modern.  Each  article  aims  at  presenting  its  subject 
in  relation  to  the  political  and  social  circumstances  in  which 
she  was  placed,  and  at  producing  a  character-sketch  which 
may   enable   the   reader   to    realize    the   personality  of  the 


PREFACE  IX 

lady  whose  life  it  narrates.  But  beyond  this  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  obtain  uniformity  of  treatment;  each 
author  has  been  left  to  deal  with  his  subject  as  might 
best  suit  his  conception  of  her  character  and  the  materials 
at  his  disposal ;  and  for  every  expression  of  opinion  the 
individual  writer  is  solely  responsible. 

The  books  which  have  been  found  most  useful  are  indi- 
cated in  the  footnotes;  but  a  general  expression  of  grati- 
tude may  here  be  made  to  Mr.  Gardiner's  great  seven- 
teenth-century history,  and  to  the  writings  of  two  earlier 
workers  in  the  same  field,  Miss  Strickland  and  Mrs.  Everett- 
Green.  Fifty  years  have  passed  since  these  ladies  published 
their  well-known  books,  and,  in  the  interval,  historical  re- 
search has  not  been  silent;  but  to  their  industry  and  in- 
sight all  subsequent  inquirers  must  owe  much,  even  where 
(as  in  the  present  instance)  their  interests  are  less  purely 
personal  and  domestic  than  were  those  of  the  authors  of 
the  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Scotland  and  the  Lives  of  the 
Princesses  of  England. 

To  M.  Alexis  Larpent,  grateful  thanks  are  due  for  a 
careful  criticism  of  portions  of  the  proof-sheets,  and  to  the 
Earl  of  Craven  for  kind  permission  to  reproduce  the  por- 
traits of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  and  Henrietta  of  Orleans 
from  his  collection  of  paintings  at  Combe  Abbey. 

R.  S.  R. 

New  College,  Oxford, 
October,  1901. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Preface.    .    , v 

Margaret,   Daughter  of  James^  I.  of  Scotland,  Dau- 

phine  of  France i 

by    Harold   Edgeworth  Butler,  Lecturer  of  New 
College,  Oxford. 

EUZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA,  Daughter  of  James  I.  and  VI.       47 
by  R.  H.  Hodgkin,  Lecturer  of  Queen's  College, 
Oxford. 

Mary    of    Orange,    Daughter    of  Charles    L    and 

Mother  of  William  III 165 

by  Algernon  Cecil,  B.A.,  New  College. 

Henrietta  of  Orleans,  Daughter  of  Charles  I.     .227 
by  John  S.  Cyprian  Bridge,  B.A.,  New  College. 

Sophia  of  Hanover,  Grand-Daughter  of  James  I. 

and  VI.,  and  Mother  of  George  1 287 

by  the  Editor. 

Index 335 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Henrietta  of  Orleans Frontispiece 

From  a  painting  at  Versailles. 
Tomb  of  the  Princess  Margaret,  Page 

From    a    drawing  in  the   Bodleian  Library    To  face     43 
Elizabeth  of  Bohemia, 

From   a  painting  by  Honthorst,  at  Combe 

Abbey „      „      49 

Charles  Louis,  Elector  Palatine, 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Hope  Collection, 

Oxford ,      „     151 

Mary  of  Orange, 

From  a  painting  by  Hanneman,   at  Hamp- 
ton Court ,,      ,,167 

Henrietta,  (as  a  child) 

From   a   painting   by  Vandyck,  at  Combe 

Abbey „      „     229 

The  Electress  Sophia, 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Hope  Collection, 

Oxford „      „     289 

The  Princess  Elizabeth, 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Hope  Collection, 

Oxford T     .      „      „     293 

Elizabeth  Charlotte  of  Orleans, 

From  an  engraving  in  the  Hope  Collection, 

Oxford „      „     299 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND 

DAUGHTER  OF  JAMES  I. 


I 


THE   PRINCESS  MARGARET   OF  SCOTLAND 
DAUGHTER   OF  JAMES  I. 

Heu  proh  dolor!  quod  me  oporteat  scribere,  quod  dolenter 
refero  de  ejus  morte,  cum  mors  eandem  dominam  brevi 
dolore  eripuit.  Nam  ego  qui  scribo  haec  vidi  eam  omni 
die  vivam  cum  rege  Franciae  et  regina  ludentem  et  per  novem 
annos  sic  continuantem.  Postea  vidi  eam  in  casula  plumbea 
in  ecclesia  cathedrali  civitatis  Calonensis  ad  cornu  magni 
altaris  ex  parte  boriali.  Liber  Pluscardensis. 

An  enthusiastic  Frenchman,  in  one  of  those  eloquent  and 
rapid  generalisations  in  which  our  neighbours  so  greatly 
delight,  has  recently  assured  the  world  that  the  Scots  are 
the  French  of  England.  It  is  an  opinion  which  perhaps 
comes  with  somewhat  of  a  shock  of  surprise  to  the  benighted 
Southron;  but  it  is  also  perhaps  a  fanciful  reminiscence, 
not  without  its  pathetic  aspect,  of  the  old  days  of  the 
Franco-Scottish  alliance,  when  many  a  Scottish  adven- 
turer fought  and  died  for  France  in  desperate  battle  against 
the  common  hereditary  foe.  But  it  is  coloured  with  a  senti- 
mentality which  should  not  be  allowed  to  lead  us  too  far 
into  the  rosy  mists  of  romance.  For  though  in  truth,  from 
the  days  of  that  most  tragic  of  queens — who  passed  the 
springtide  of  her  life  as  queen  of  France,  and  for  whom 
in  the  stormy  summer  and  autumn  of  her  career,  "many 
drew  swords  and  died,"  nay,  for  whose  honour  historians 
of  to-day  yet  wage  a  scarcely  less  embittered  conflict — 
though    from    this    epoch    down   through    all    the    stirring 


.  '4:  :  •• :  /' :  * .  •'  ' :  '• .  ELVE  -  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Jacobite  period  resonant  with  the  sound  of  half-hopeless 
strife,  and  the  laments  of  the  weary  who  "never  come  to 
their  ain  countrie,"  there  lies  a  warm  glow  of  romance 
over  the  relations  of  France  and  Scotland,  in  the  earlier 
days  it  is  far  otherwise.  There  is  less  of  sentiment;  the 
alliance  wears  a  sterner  aspect. 

There  was  in  truth  little  in  the  severer  genius  of  the  Scot, 
in  his  rugged  moorlands,  his  wild  hills,  his  stormy  climate, 
to  attract  the  lively  Latin  nature,  the  warm  spirit  of  the 
South.  Nay,  if  we  may  believe  a  French  writer  of  the  XVth 
century,  Ecosse  la  Sauvage  was  the  favourite  residence  of 
the  Prince  of  Darkness,  and  it  was  thither  that  the  would-be 
sorcerer  of  the  continent  was  sent  to  receive  his  marching 
orders.  It  was  in  Scotland  that  Jean  de  Meun  placed  the 
abode  of  Famine,  while  other  writers  rejoiced  to  trace  a 
fanciful  resemblance  between  the  Scots  and  Judas  Iscariot, 
though  it  is  true  that  this  comparison  was  based  on  physical 
rather  than  on  moral  grounds.  In  fact,  to  leave  the  province 
of  the  romancers,  the  picture  given  by  Froissart  may  be 
taken  as  representative  of  the  foreign  opinion  concerning 
this  little  known  and  much  abused  kingdom.  ^  "  En  Ecosse 
ils  ne  virent  oncques  nul  homme  de  bien,  et  sont  ainsi 
comme  gens  sauvages,  qui  ne  se  savent  avoir  ni  de  nulli 
acointer :  et  sont  trop  grandement  envieux  du  bien  d'autrui, 
et  si  se  doutent  de  leurs  biens  perdre,  car  ils  ont  un  povre 
pays.  Et  quant  les  anglais  y  chevauchent  ou  qu'ils  y  vont — 
il  convient  que  leurs  pourveances,  s'ils  veulent  vivre,  les 
suivent  toujours  au  dos,  car  on  ne  trouve  rien  sur  le  pays. 
A  grand'  peine  y  recuevre  Ton  du  fer  pour  ferrer  les 
chevaux  ni  du  cuir  pour  faire  harnois,  selles  ni  brides.  Les 
choses  toutes  faites  leur  viennent  par  mer  de  Flandres  et 
quant  cela  leur  defaut,  ils  n'ont  nul  chose."  (II.  128).    And 

1  See  also  the  picturesque  and  amusing  experiences  of  Aeneas  Sylvius  as 
narrated  in  "  TJie  Romance  of  a  King's  Life "  by  M.  Jusserand. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  5 

if  to  Froissart's  testimony  we  add  the  remarkable  words 
which  St.  Louis,  as  he  lay  ill  at  Fontainebleau,  used  towards 
his  son,  we  shall  have  said  enough  and  may  pass  to  matters 
alike  more  palatable  and  more  profitable.  "  Mon  fils,"  cried 
the  King,  "je  te  prie  de  te  faire  aimer  du  peuple  de  ton 
royaume,  car  si  tu  devais  mal  le  gouverner,  j'aimerais 
mieux  qu'un  Ecossais  vint  d'Ecosse  et  regnat  a  ta  place." 
But  if  in  the  eyes  of  the  peoples  of  the  continent  Scot- 
land was  the  abode  of  devils,  cursed  with  poverty  and 
starvation,  if  its  inhabitants  were  regarded  as  little  better 
than  savages,  nevertheless  it  had  also  its  value.  The  pro- 
verbial disposition  of  the  Scot  to  roam  abroad  was  early 
noticed  by  the  peoples  of  the  continent,  as  is  testified  by 
du  Cange's  comment  on  the  words  of  St.  Louis  just  quoted. 
He  refers  to  "the  strange  humour  of  this  nation  which 
delights  so  greatly  in  much  travelling,  that  there  is  hardly 
a  kingdom  in  the  world  to  which  they  have  not  spread  in 
large  numbers."  And  the  same  statement  is  reproduced  in 
more  forcible  if  less  polite  language  by  Pierre  de  Jolle. 

"Vous  saur^s  qu'on  dit  en  proverbe 
Que  d'ficossais,  de  rats,  de  poux, 
Ceux  qui  voyagent  jusqu'au  bout 
Du  monde,  en  recontrent  partout." 

It  was  this  roving  tendency  that  in  great  part  supplied 
France  with  her  trusty  Scottish  mercenaries,  while  it  was 
powerfully  supplemented  by  the  fact  that  in  France,  above 
all  other  countries,  it  was  possible  to  meet  the  hated  English 
on  the  field  of  battle. 

It  is  therefore  little  to  be  wondered  that  the  rulers  of 
France  set  a  high  value  on  the  friendship  and  alliance  of 
Scotland ;  and,  above  all,  this  value  was  further  enhanced  by 
the  fact,  that  by  timely  demonstrations  on  the  borders 
Scotland  had  it  in  her  power  to  weaken  the  English  pres- 


6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

sure  upon  France.  And  if  France  valued  Scotland  for  this 
reason,  so  also  Scotland  valued  France.  Thus  a  strong 
bond  of  union  sprang  up  between  the  two  nations.  Often 
actually  allied,  their  community  of  interests  never  suffered 
them  to  drift  far  apart.  However,  it  was  pre-eminently  a 
utilitarian  aUiance:  sentiment,  if  any,  was  to  be  found  on 
this  side  of  the  North  Sea.  But  the  fact  of  their  close  con- 
nexion, and  the  importance  popularly  attached  to  it,  is 
clearly  indicated  by  the  proverb  current  in  later  days 
throughout  England. 

"If  that  you  would  France  win. 
Then  with  Scotland  first  begin." 

The  story  of  the  Stewart  princess,  with  which  we  are 
here  concerned,  forms  but  a  tragic  episode  in  the  history 
of  these  close  Franco-Scottish  relations.  It  would  seem  as 
though  when  one  of  the  royal  blood  of  Scotland  left  her  own 
land  for  a  new  dwelling  in  the  friendly  court  of  France, 
by  that  very  act  a  fresh  curse,  a  new  doom  was  called 
down  to  increase  the  burden  of  the  sorrowful  inheritance 
of  that  ill-starred  house.  Here,  however,  we  have  none 
of  the  greater  tragedies  of  history;  it  is  a  domestic  rather 
than  a  royal  tragedy,  and  several  of  its  acts  have  been 
lost.  Yet  though  it  lack  the  stronger  contrasts  of  light 
and  shade,  which  characterize  some  of  the  better  known 
calamities  of  the  race  of  the  Stewarts,  it  has  something 
about  it  of  "pathetic  hght,"  investing  the  slight  outlines 
of  a  brief  story  and  the  dimly  seen  figure  of  the  un- 
fortunate Dauphine  with  an  interest  which  the  scanty  facts, 
that  have  been  handed  down  to  us,  perhaps  scarcely 
deserve. 

It  is  not  here  our  duty  to  chronicle  the  interesting 
relations  existing  between  Charles  VII.  and  the  Scotch 
nobility   who    flocked   to   his    assistance  in  the  almost  des- 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  7 

perate  struggle  against  the  armies  of  England.  How  wel- 
come was  their  assistance  appears  from  the  fact  that  an 
earl  of  Scotland,  Archibald  Douglas,  who  followed  his 
son-in-law  the  Earl  of  Buchan  to  France,  backed  by  an 
army  of  10,000  Scots,  was  named  lieutenant-general  of  the 
armies  of  France  and  presented  with  the  duchy  of  Touraine. 
Moreover,  in  1424  when  the  fortunes  of  France  were  at 
their  lowest  ebb,  and  when  the  Constable  of  Buchan  and 
his  kinsman,  the  new  Due  de  Touraine,  lay  dead  upon  the 
field  of  Verneuil  with  the  flower  of  the  chivalry  of  France 
and  Scotland,  Charles  the  VII.  appears  to  have  contem- 
plated taking  refuge  from  his  inexorable  and  seemingly 
invincible  foes  in  that  despised  wilderness  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland.  But  although  his  cup  of  misfortune  was  not 
yet  full,  though  many  years  of  hard  fighting  still  lay  before 
him  ere  he  should  come  to  his  own  again,  it  was  not 
written  in  the  book  of  destiny  that  he  should  be  exiled 
from  the  scanty  realm  that  still  remained  to  him. 

The  temporary  rapprochement  of  Scotland  and  England 
brought  about  by  the  restoration  of  James  I.  to  his  king- 
dom, and  by  his  marriage  to  the  beautiful  and  beloved 
Jane  Beaufort,  seemed,  it  is  true,  a  fatal  blow  to  French 
diplomacy,  as  far  as  Scotland  was  concerned.  But  in  those 
days  no  Anglo-Scottish  rapprochement  could  hope  to  be 
very  durable;  and  it  was  with  this  in  view,  that  Charles, 
driven  to  desperation  by  the  continual  success  of  the  armies 
of  England,  and  failing  to  find  the  assistance  he  had  hoped 
from  Castile,  took  the  momentous  step  with  which 
opens  the  first  act  of  our  domestic  tragedy.  In  1427,  it 
was  decided  to  send  an  embassy  to  James  I.  of  Scotland. 
If  the  connection  between  the  two  countries  had  of  late 
been  somewhat  strained,  its  bonds  might  once  more  be 
tightened  by  a  marriage  between  the  royal  houses  of 
Stewart  and   Valois.     The    Dauphin,  the  future  Louis  XL, 


8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

was  but  two  years  older  than  Margaret,  James*  eldest 
daughter.  What  could  be  more  suitable  than  that  by  the 
marriage  of  these  two  royal  children — for  at  this  point 
Louis  was  but  five  years  of  age,  Margaret  but  three — 
should  be  renewed  and  strengthened,  *'the  ancient  aUiances, 
leagues,  and  compacts,  existing  between  the  two  nations, 
as  far  back  as  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne." 

The  ambassadors  chosen  for  this  important  mission  were 
three  in  number.  First  and  foremost  comes  John  Stewart 
of  Darnley,  who  alone  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  auxiliary 
army  had  survived  the  disasters  of  Verneuil  and  Cravant, 
and  the  dreary  series  of  battles  by  which  they  were  suc- 
ceeded. From  the  glorious  field  of  Beauge  down  to  the 
present  time,  he  had  given  continual  proof  of  his  unswerving 
fidelity  to  the  French  cause;  and  as  a  reward  he  had  re- 
ceived the  titles  of  Seigneur  of  Aubigny  and  Count  of 
Evreux — though  it  must  be  observed  that  Evreux  was  still 
at  this  time  in  the  hands  of  the  English.  Further,  in  February 
1428,  just  before  his  departure  on  this  mission,  he  had  been 
honoured  with  the  yet  more  glorious  privilege  of  quarter- 
ing the  arms  of  France  on  his  own  escutcheon.  He,  Con- 
stable of  the  Scots  in  France,  headed  the  embassy  to  his 
native  land,  where  he  had  left  ''wife  and  children  that 
he  might  remain  in  the  service  of  France."  But  such  a 
delicate  task  was  not  to  be  entrusted  to  the  sole  direction 
of  a  skilled  and  trusted  warrior.  Two  tried  diplomatists 
were  given  him  as  colleagues,  Regnault  de  Chartres,  arch- 
bishop of  Rheims,  and  Alain  Chartier,  the  poet,  **the  father 
of  French  eloquence."  It  was,  as  M.  Jusserand  points  out 
in  his  charming  little  work,  "The  Romance  of  a  King's 
life,"  far  from  unusual  to  employ  poets  as  ambassadors. 
Where  the  honeyed  words  of  the  poet  had  failed  to  effect 
the  desired  result,  who  could  hope  to  succeed?  Conse- 
quently, Alain  Chartier  preceded  his  colleagues  to  Scotland 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  9 

to    strew    the    path   of  the   statesman   with   the  flowers  of 
eloquence. 

Once  arrived  at  the  court  of  Scotland  he  delivered  a 
solemn  oration.  It  was  a  wonderful  piece  of  work.  It 
may  raise  a  smile  on  the  face  of  the  modern  reader :  it  is 
true  that  it  is  stilted,  full  of  conceits  of  language,  tricks 
of  formal  logic,  and  ridiculous  etymologies;  but  it  has 
nevertheless  a  certain  dignity  of  its  own,  a  swing  and 
rhythm  of  diction  and  a  genuine  pathos,  which  it  would 
be  affectation  to  ignore.  Stripping  it  of  all  its  absurdities 
it  remains  as  a  noble  panegyric  of  the  two  nations.  He 
recalls  the  antiquity  of  the  Franco-Scottish  alliance,  written 
not  on  parchment,  but  "graven  on  the  hearts,  on  the 
living  flesh  of  men:  its  characters  are  traced  not  in  ink, 
but  in  blood."  He  proceeds  to  render  the  most  splendid 
homage  to  the  true  and  enduring  loyalty  of  Scotland  towards 
her  suffering  neighbour.  He  touches  on  the  prospects  of 
ultimate  success.  *'Jam  divina  misericordia,"  he  cries,  "  in 
melius  dedit,"  and  concludes  with  a  pathetic  asseveration 
of  his  trust  in  the  everlasting  mercies  of  God.  He  will 
not  abandon  His  faithful  people,  **that  house  dedicated  to 
the  Lord,  that  nation  which  is  so  profoundly  religious,  so 
steeped  in  humility,  piety  and  justice." 

He  had  done  his  work  well.  Half  bound  though  he  was 
to  England,  James  was  moved  by  considerations  of  the 
soundest  statesmanship,  and  touched  perhaps  by  Alain's 
delicate  allusion  to  the  political  situation — he  had  quoted 
Ecclesiasticus,  "ne  derelinquas  amicum  antiquum,  novus 
enim  non  erit  similis  illi."  He  received  the  ambassadors  of 
Charles  VII.  with  all  the  pomp  and  splendour  of  which  he 
was  capable.  They  were  sumptuously  entertained  at  Lin- 
lithgow, fairest  of  "Scotland's  royal  dwellings,"  and  on  the 
17th  of  July,  1428,  Henry  Lichtoun,  bishop  of  Aberdeen, 
Sir   Patrick   Ogilvy,    "justicier   d'Ecosse,"    and   Edward  of 


lo  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Lawder,    archdeacon    of   Lothian,    were   appointed  to  treat 
with  the  French  ambassadors  on  the  questions  at  issue. 

On  the  same  day  a  treaty  was  signed,  by  which  James 
bound  himself  to  respect  the  ancient  alliances  existing 
between  France  and  Scotland,  and  two  days  later,  on  the 
19th  of  July,  it  was  arranged  that  Margaret  should  become 
the  bride  of  Louis,  Dauphin  de  Viennois,  that  the  King  of 
Scotland  should  provide  for  her  escort  to  France,  and  that 
she  should  be  accompanied  thither  by  an  army  of  6,000 
men.  The  one  point  that  remained  to  be  settled  was  the 
nature  and  amount  of  the  dowry  of  the  infant  princess. 
The  Scots  demanded  for  her,  the  province  of  Saintonge, 
and  exacting  though  the  demand  was,  and  provocative  of 
some  discontent,  it  was  finally  acceded  to  in  November  1428, 
though  always  with  the  reservation,  that  it  should  not  be 
carried  into  effect  save  only  on  condition  of  the  promised 
military  contingent.  A  few  days  previous  to  this  arrange- 
ment, a  formal  treaty  had  been  agreed  upon,  certain  of 
the  terms  of  which  are  worth  noticing.  For  among  other 
less  significant  details  it  contained  the  callous  proviso  that 
"if  the  Dauphin  died  before  the  consummation  of  the 
marriage,  the  second  son  of  the  king — God  granting  him 
one — should  take  Margaret  for  his  wife,  and  so  on  until 
the  marriage  should  finally  be  realised."  In  like  manner, 
should  Margaret  die,  one  of  her  sisters  should  be  substituted, 
although  in  this  case  the  French  king  reserved  to  himself 
the  right  of  choosing  his  daughter-in-law.  ^  Truly,  if  the 
marriage  of  the  poet  king  and  Jane  Beaufort,  the  heroine 
of  the  '•  King's  Quair,"  forms  one  of  those  rare  instances  of 
a  royal  marriage  in  which  true  love  rather  than  cold  political 


^  It  was  actually  proposed  in  1445  ^^^^  Eleanor,  Margaret's  sister,  then  in 
France,  should  in  due  time  marry  the  widowed  Dauphin.  The  refusal  of  the 
Pope  to  permit  this  union,  and  Louis'  strong  opposition  to  this  proposal 
caused  it,  however,  to  be  dropped. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  ii 

considerations  formed  the  most  potent  factor,  a  nemesis  was 
to  overtake  the  royal  pair  in  the  marriage  of  their  daughter 
whom  they  had  bartered  away  in  such  a  heartless  fashion. 

The  unhappy  child,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
was  apparently  to  have  sought  her  new  home  and  boy- 
husband  oversea  in  the  course  of  the  following  year.  In- 
deed we  read  in  the  English  State  Papers,  that  the  English 
Government  actually  equipped  a  force  to  intercept  the 
Scottish  fleet  which  was  to  transport  the  auxiliary  army 
and  the  Dauphin's  betrothed  to  the  shores  of  France.  But 
for  various  reasons,  some  years  were  allowed  to  elapse 
before  the  treaty  was  in  any  way  to  be  carried  into  effect. 

Not  the  least  of  these  reasons  was  the  miraculous  inter- 
vention of  Joan  of  Arc,  which  rendered  the  advent  of  the 
Scottish  Army  unnecessary,  and  thereby  spared  France  the 
much  grudged  cession  of  the  province  of  Saintonge.  And 
it  may  well  be  imagined  that  James  and  his  Queen  readily 
laid  hold  of  any  excuse  to  retain  their  little  daughter  in 
that  home,  that  charming  family  circle,  of  which  such  pic- 
turesque accounts  have  reached  us.  Indeed  Joan  of  Arc 
seems  to  have  come  near  saving  Margaret  from  her  martyr- 
dom. For  while  Charles  VII.  ceased  to  have  any  pressing 
need  of  Scottish  assistance,  James  was  deeply  occupied  in 
the  reorganisation  of  his  distracted  kingdom,  in  the  repres- 
sion of  the  feuds  and  tumults  of  the  Highlands  and  the 
not  less  disturbed  border  districts.  Further,  since  the  6,000 
Scots  were  not  to  sail  for  France,  England  and  Scotland 
might  still  be  considered  at  peace,  and  in  1429  James 
renewed  his  negotiations  with  the  English  government. 

In  the  following  year  attempts  were  made  to  induce 
James  to  break  definitely  with  France,  and  it  was  only 
the  sturdy  opposition  of  the  Scottish  prelates  which  availed 
to  prevent  the  attempt  from  succeeding.  As  it  was,  in 
1430  the  truce  between  the  two  countries  had  been  renewed 


12  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

for  five  years,  and  during  this  period  of  truce  the  bonds 
uniting  the  two  governments  were  being  gradually  tightened, 
until  finally  in  1433  and  1434  English  ambassadors  were 
charged  to  open  negotiations  for  a  marriage  between  the 
King  of  England  and  a  daughter  of  James  I. 

It  now  became  imperative  for  Charles  VII.  to  intervene. 
The  interests  of  France  were  gravely  threatened,  and  without 
prompt  action  the  treaty  of  1428  would  have  become  a  dead 
letter.  Accordingly,  in  the  early  winter  of  1433,  we  find 
two  French  ambassadors  at  the  Scottish  court.  They  declar- 
ed that  while  it  was  true  that  their  master's  affairs  had 
become  more  prosperous,  and  that  therefore  he  was  enabled 
to  dispense  with  the  armed  assistance  of  Scotland,  he  still, 
however,  longed  to  behold  the  realisation  of  the  marriage 
and  begged  that  the  princess  might  be  sent  to  France 
without  delay. 

James  was  now  in  rather  an  embarrassing  situation.  He 
had  promised  his  daughter  to  the  Dauphin,  but  his  paternal 
affection  and  the  present  state  of  his  relations  with  England 
urged  him  to  refuse.  He  received  the  ambassadors  coldly. 
**I  am  ready,"  he  replied,  **to  fulfil  my  engagements.  I 
will  send  armed  assistance  to  France  the  instant  that  it  is 
desired.  But  my  daughter  is  yet  of  tender  years,  and  it 
is  rude  and  wintry  weather."  Nay,  he  proceeded,  there 
were  rumours  that  another  alliance  was  intended  for  the 
Dauphin,  and  it  would  be  well  that  all  the  doubts  thus 
cast  on  the  good  faith  of  France  should  be  cleared  away. 
As  for  his  own  negotiations  with  England,  they  need  in 
nowise  prejudice  the  alliance  of  1428.  But  for  financial 
difficulties,  he  would  gladly  give  the  English  such  cause  for 
anxiety,  that  France  would  have  little  more  to  fear  from 
them.  But  while  he  himself  was  always  ready  to  fulfil  his 
engagements,  he  desired  to  be  reassured  as  to  the  intentions 
of  the   French   King,   and  the  drift  of  his  policy  with  the 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  13 

least  possible  loss  of  time.  Further  delay  must  prejudice 
either  cause,  perhaps  to  an  even  greater  extent  than  Charles 
was  aware. 

Such  was  the  barely  courteous  message  with  which  the 
French  ambassadors  returned  to  their  master.  For  unknown 
reasons,  it  took  some  six  months  to  reach  Charles.  On  its 
arrival,  however,  he  realised  the  necessity  of  speedy  action, 
and  after  hurried  consultation  of  his  council  he  selected 
Regnault  Girard,  Seigneur  de  Bazoges,  and  a  Scottish 
gentleman  named  Hugh  Kennedy,  as  ambassadors  to  the 
Scottish  court.  A  curious  account  of  the  mission  by  the 
hand  of  the  Seigneur  de  Bazoges  still  survives  in  the  National 
Library  at  Paris.  He,  poor  soul,  fearing,  not  without  just 
cause,  the  winter  voyage,  did  his  best  to  rid  himself  of  his 
distasteful  task.  The  embassy  was,  he  pointed  out,  "bien 
dangereuse  et  perilleuse."  To  escape  the  perils  of  the  sea 
he  continued,  **I  was  prepared  to  give  four  hundred  crowns 
to  him  that  would  take  my  place  as  ambassador,  and 
I  had  hoped  that  the  King  would  consent  thereto."  But 
Charles  was  not  unnaturally  obdurate,  and  the  reluctant 
ambassador  set  sail  "not  without  tears  and  mourning." 

His  fears  were  to  be  realised.  At  an  early  stage  in  their 
voyage  they  were  caught  by  a  "marvellous  great  whirl- 
wind," and  driven  westward  into  the  pitiless  ocean  for 
five  days  and  five  nights.  At  last,  the  storm  subsiding 
for  a  while,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  the  coast  of 
Ireland,  where  yet  once  more  they  were  to  be  delayed 
five  days  by  "the  said  whirlwind."  This  time  they  were 
sheltered  by  a  "very  high  and  marvellous  rock  named 
Ribon,  which  is  the  most  westerly  of  all  lands  and  whereon 
no  living  thing  dwelleth."  Thus  they  escaped  serious 
damage,  and  at  length,  after  a  dreary,  if  not  unexciting 
voyage  of  56  days,  they  arrived  at  the  port  of  Dumbarton 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1435.    Hence  they  were  escorted  by 


14  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

a  whole  host  of  Kennedys,  whom  Girard's  companion  had 
summoned  to  do  them  honour,  to  the  court  James  was 
holding  at  Edinburgh.  There  they  were  worthily  received 
and  set  forth  their  mission.  There  was  no  such  dramatic 
scene  as  is  depicted  in  Drummond's  History  of  Scotland, 
where  Lord  Scrope  and  Regnault  Girard  are  represented 
as  declaiming  against  each  other  in  the  best  Thucydidean 
manner  and  the  most  flowing  Elizabethan  style.  It  was  in 
reality  a  prosaic  business.  After  declining  with  thanks  the 
renewed  offer  of  six  thousand  men,  (an  offer  the  acceptance 
of  which  would  involve  the  unpalatable  surrender  of  Saintonge,) 
they  made  due  apologies  for  the  tardiness  of  their  master 
Charles  VII.  in  resuming  the  question  of  the  stipulated 
marriage. 

"The  King,"  they  urged,  "had  been  too  much  occupied 
with  wars  and  with  the  organisation  of  men  and  suppHes, 
and  so  great  were  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the 
voyage,  that  not  only  was  it  hard  to  find  ambassadors,  but 
even  ships  and  mariners  capable  of  such  an  enterprise. 
He  knew  well  that  so  small  and  undistinguished  an  em- 
bassy was  scarcely  adequate  for  so  great  an  occasion,  but 
the  great  Lords  and  Princes  of  France  were  engaged  in 
operations  of  war,  and  it  had  been  impossible  for  France 
to  provide  a  sufficient  escort  for  the  future  Dauphine,  owing 
to  the  difficulty  of  procuring  warships.  But  the  King  prayed 
that  the  Dauphine  might  be  sent  to  her  new  home  as  soon 
as  possible,  at  least  not  later  than  the  approaching  summer. 
Meanwhile  these  his  ambassadors  would  discuss  the  best 
means  of  securing  a  passage  safe  from  the  perils  of  the  sea 
and  the  English  warships." 

James  hesitated.  The  family  life  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Stewarts  was  a  loving  one,  and  for  the  period  forms  a 
most  edifying  spectacle.  He  interposed  delay.  "  He  could 
not,"   he   said,  "come   to   any   conclusion  for  the  present. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  15 

He  must  first  come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Queen, 
before  he  could  further  discuss  the  matter."  He  therefore 
put  ofif  the  ambassadors  for  a  month,  bidding  them  meet 
him  on  February  the  21st  at  St.  Johnston.  [Perth].  There  they 
found  James,  the  Queen  and  the  httle  princess  herself;  and 
there,  after  some  five  days'  discussion,  was  signed  a  not 
very  conclusive  convention.  The  Dauphine  was  to  sail  for 
France  by  the  following  May;  she  was  to  have  an  escort 
of  2,000  Scots,  and  a  fleet,  which  if  the  King  of  France 
had   need  of  their  services,  would  remain  at  his  disposal.  ^ 

But  James  was  exacting  in  his  demands,  and  the  anxiety 
which  he  displayed  for  the  future  happiness  of  his  little 
daughter  is  quite  touching,  more  especially  when  we  con- 
sider that  incidentally  these  demands  meant  that  he  would 
have  a  year  more  of  her  company.  For  he  showed  himself 
most  solicitous.  A  town  of  her  own,  garrisoned  and  com- 
manded by  Scotsmen,  must  be  allotted  to  her ;  her  servants 
and  her  ladies-in-waiting  must  be  Scottish;  although  he 
admitted  that  she  must  be  served  by  French  attendants 
"pour  lui  apprendre  son  estat  et  les  manieres  par  dela," 
and  must  move  in  the  circles  of  the  French  court;  more- 
over, Scotland  could  not  provide  transports  for  the  two 
thousand  auxiliaries  in  addition  to  the  vessels  of  war 
already  promised.  He  therefore  begged  that  Charles  would 
provide  the  necessary  transport  and,  in  addition,  to  make 
security  doubly  secure,  send  a  galley  fully  equipped  with 
rowers  and  crossbowmen. 

Now  Regnault  and  his  comrades  had  no  powers  to  grant 
such  sweeping  demands,  and  it  was  necessary  to  refer  to 
the  French  court  for  further  instructions.  The  month  of 
May  passed  and  no  instructions  arrived.  James  therefore, 
to  his  great  delight,  induced  Girard  to  postpone  the  depar- 

*  Probably  a  last  effort  on  the  part  of  James  to  secure  the  province  of 
Saintonge  for  his  daughter. 


i6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

ture  of  the  Dauphine  until  the  20th  of  September.  At  last, 
however — probably  in  the  month  of  July — the  long-expected 
despatches  arrived.  Charles  acceded  to  the  greater  part  of 
James'  demands.  But  he  was  silent  about  the  proposed 
Scottish  household  for  the  Dauphine,  and  demurred  entirely 
to  the  suggestion  that  a  French  town  should  be  assigned 
to  the  Princess.  It  seemed  to  him  to  be  neither  "chose 
honneste  ni  convenable",  that  she  should  reside  other- 
where than  at  the  French  court.  The  queen  would  treat 
her  as  her  own  daughter.  No  other  arrangement  could 
even  be  considered. 

Accordingly,  on  September  the  12th,  the  French  fleet 
arrived  off  Dumbarton,  bearing  yet  further  despatches  from 
the  French  King.  He  was  clearly — small  blame  to  him — 
becoming  impatient.  Without  expressing  any  doubt  of  the 
good  faith  of  the  Scottish  King,  he  protested  strenuously 
against  further  delay.  Once  more  he  asserted  that  he  and 
his  queen  would  treat  Margaret  as  if  she  were  "leur  fille 
charnelle",  but  added  to  this  assertion  a  firm  protest 
against  the  suggestion  that  a  Scottish  household  should 
accompany  the  princess.  It  was  indeed  a  very  wise  and 
necessary  protest.  At  least,  continued  the  French  King, 
there  should  not  be  more  than  two  or  three  Scotswomen 
and  as  many  men.  Otherwise,  to  quote  Charles'  actual 
words,  '*  Tant  qu'elle  aura  avec  elle  des  gens  de  sa  nation, 
elle  ne  apprendra  volontiers  frangoys,  ou  I'estat  de  ce  roy- 
aume." 

James,  however,  was  not  to  be  beaten,  and  astounded  the 
French  envoys  by  calmly  proposing  further  procrastination. 
The  French  fleet,  he  pointed  out,  had  been  very  late  in 
its  arrival,  appearing  barely  a  week  before  the  date  fixed 
for  the  departure  of  the  Dauphine.  The  season  was  approach- 
ing when  **all  marriage  between  persons  of  high  sta- 
tion  is   forbidden."     And   not  only  etiquette,  but  also  the 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  17 

weather  stood  in  the  way.  The  queen  would  never  suffer 
her  daughter  to  be  exposed  to  the  perils  of  the  wintry  sea. 
Did  not  Regnault  Girard,  Seigneur  de  Bazoges,  remember 
his  own  experiences  at  sea  ?  The  tables  were  turned.  What 
more  could  be  said?  Girard  had  reluctantly  to  give  way, 
to  consent  to  a  further  postponement  till  the  month  of 
February,  and  face  the  prospect  of  wintering  in  "  Ecosse 
la  sauvage". 

James'  canniness  had  conquered  all  along  the  line,  and 
the  father's  heart  was  gratified  by  a  year  more  of  life 
blest  by  the  presence  of  the  little  princess.  Neither  father 
nor  daughter  were  to  drink  much  longer  of  the  well  of 
happiness,  nor  either  to  meet  again  this  side  the  grave. 
**  Clouds  and  darkness  closed  upon  Camelot."  The  king 
was  to  perish,  but  a  few  months  after  her  departure,  by 
the  hand  of  the  assassin.  His  daughter  was  to  become 
the  wife  of  a  **  heartless  ruler  of  men,"  and  to  die  of  a 
broken  heart,  maligned  and  slandered,  in  the  flower  of 
her  youth,  far  from  her  own  country;  and  all  that  is  left 
to  record  the  early  life  of  Margaret  Stewart  and  the  love 
her  father  bore  to  her,  are  the  dry  bones  of  state  papers, 
which  are  perhaps  at  times  clothed  with  a  thin  phantom 
of  flesh  and  blood.  Through  all  their  stiff  formalities  we 
may  at  times  trace  not  merely  the  working  of  the  states- 
man's brain,  but  the  naive  reluctance  of  parental  affection. 

The  winter  passed  quickly  by,  and  February  the  appointed 
month  arrived.  James  could  not  with  decency  much  longer 
postpone  his  child's  departure,  and  summoned  Girard  and 
his  comrades  to  a  farewell  banquet  at  St.  Johnston.  The 
following  day  they  were  once  more  summoned  to  the  royal 
presence.  Regnault  shall  tell  what  took  place  in  his  own 
words : 

"Then  did  the  said  king  and  queen  of  Scotland  bid 
my  said  lady  the  Dauphine  come  into  their  presence,  and 


i8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

spoke  to  her  many  fair  words  and  notable,  telling  her  of 
the  high  place  of  the  prince  to  whom  she  was  to  be  es- 
poused and  exhorting  her  to  bear  herself  in  all  things 
well.  And  God  knoweth  how  great  weeping  there  was 
on  both  sides.  This  done  we  took  our  leave,  and  the  said 
king,  for  the  honour  of  the  King  of  France,  his  said  brother, 
bade  me,  Regnault  Girard,  to  kiss  the  queen;  and  she  of 
her  great  courtesy  and  humility  did  the  like  by  me,  which 
I  esteem  the  greatest  honour  that  hath  ever  befallen  me. 
And  thereupon  we  took  our  departure.  And  on  the  follow- 
ing day  the  king  sent  great  presents  to  us  in  our  said 
lodging  at  St.  Johnstoun,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  from  the  time  when  we  arrived  in  the  said  kingdom 
of  Scotland  and  came  before  him  in  his  town  of  Edinburgh 
— Jan.  25th,  1434,  ^  down  to  the  time  when  we  took  leave 
of  him  in  the  said  palace  of  St.  Johnstoun — Feb.  1435 — 
he  defrayed  and  paid  our  expenses  in  whatever  part  of 
the  said  kingdom  we  might  be." 

From  Perth  the  ambassador  proceeded  to  Dumbarton  to 
prepare  for  the  departure  of  the  princess,  and  there  he  re- 
mained on  board  his  ship  for  15  days  and  endured  *'de 
grans  malaises".  The  king  still  delayed.  At  last,  how- 
ever, the  incorrigible  procrastinator  appeared,  and  was  wel- 
comed by  Girard  with  gifts  of  a  charming  simplicity,  con- 
cerning which  the  ambassador  writes  with  an  equally  delight- 
ful naivete.  During  tKe  15  days  of  "little  ease",  a  ship 
had  arrived  from  France  bearing  "un  mulct  bien  gent, 
que  j'avoye  faict  venir  par  le  conseil  de  mondict  seigneur 
de  Vendosme,  qui  le  me  conseilla,  quant  il  me  mist  a  la 
mer,  car  il  avait  vue  le  mulct  a  la  Rochelle,  et  pour  donner 
au  diet  Roy  d'Escosse;  lequel  mulct  je  lui  feys  presenter 
et  en  fut  molt  joyeux,  et  fut  chose  bien  estrange  par  dela, 

1  Old  style. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  19 

Et  aussi  feys  presenter  a  la  dicte  Reyne  d'Escosse  trois 
pipes  plaines  de  fruict,  tant  grosses  chataignes  poyres  et 
pommes  de  diverses  manieres,  pource  qu'il  n'en  y  a  nulz; 
et  aussi  six  pipes  de  vin,  de  quoy  la  reyne  fust  bien  con- 
tente,  car  de  par  dela  il  y  a  bien  peu  de  fruict." 

These  courtesies  over,  James,  ever  solicitous  for  the 
comfort  of  his  child,  demanded  that  the  fleet  should  put 
out  to  sea,  in  order  that  he  might  see  which  vessel  was  the 
swiftest  and  possessed  the  best  equipment.  To  the  deep 
disgust  of  the  French  sailors,  who  were  barely  restrained 
from  mutiny,  a  Spanish  ship  was  chosen  as  most  suitable, 
and  at  last,  on  the  27th  of  March — little  more  than  a 
month  late,  which  perhaps  was  creditable  to  all  concerned — 
the  Dauphine  embarked.  The  king  embraced  his  daughter 
for  the  last  time;  but  now  that  the  time  of  parting  was 
indeed  come,  he  felt  that  delay  meant  no  longer  joy,  but 
merely  pain.  "Le  Roy  n'y  demeura  longuement,  mais  s'en 
alia  a  grans  pleurs,  du  regret  de  madicte  dame  la  dauphine 
sa  fille."  So  we  take  leave  of  James,  most  human  of  kings, 
weeping   bitterly   over  the  last  sight  of  his  little  daughter. 

So  also,  some  hundred  years  later,  departed  a  little  Scot- 
tish princess  to  become  Dauphine  of  France,  a  princess 
whose  fate  was  sadder  far  than  that  of  Margaret,  but  whose 
sojourn   in  France  was  the  sole  happy  portion  of  her  life. 

"Adieu,  charm  ant  pays  de  France, 
Que  je  dois  tant  cherir, 
Berceau  de  men  heureuse  enfance, 
Adieu,  te  quitter  c'est  mourir." 

What  Mary  might  have  said  of  France,  Margaret  might 
well  have  said  of  Scotland.  She  was  leaving  a  court  in 
which  life  was,  for  that  age,  comparatively  blameless;  for 
if  James  was  a  Stewart  in  all  else,  as  regards  his  family 
life,  he  was  a  shining  example  to  the  generality  of  Stewart 


20  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

princes.  She  was  leaving  a  household  where  the  level  of 
culture  was  high,  where  natural  affection  reigned  supreme. 
She  was  seeking  a  court  in  a  strange  land  ruled  by  a  king, 
who  was  ruled  in  turn  by  his  mistresses,  graced  by  the 
presence  of  a  neglected  queen,  and  distracted  by  the 
darkest  intrigues,  in  which  the  Dauphin  was  some  years 
later  to  play  not  the  least  prominent  part.  The  contrast 
was  in  every  way  a  melancholy  one.  And,  moreover,  the 
poor  child  was  no  longer  of  such  tender  years  as  not  to 
feel  the  full  pang  of  parting.  In  truth  it  would  have  been 
kinder  if  James  had  performed  his  part  of  the  original 
treaty  of  Chinon  with  alacrity,  and  the  child  had  left  him 
while  she  was  yet  too  young  to  feel  the  full  significance  of 
the  change. 

Perils  other  than  the  ordinary  perils  of  the  deep  awaited 
the  Dauphine  on  her  passage  to  France.  A  fleet  of  an 
hundred  and  eighty  English  vessels  lay  in  wait  for  the  little 
French  fleet,  as  it  steered  towards  La  Rochelle  with  its 
precious  burden.  The  English  government  harboured  a  not 
unnatural  indignation  at  what  it  must  have  regarded  as  the 
perfidious  conduct  of  the  king  of  Scotland,  and  was  still 
smarting  under  its  diplomatic  defeat.  But  in  a  happy  hour 
a  fleet  of  Flemish  vessels  laden  with  wine  hove  in  sight. 
The  spectacle  was  too  tempting  for  the  English  sailors. 
They  left  their  post  and  sailed  in  pursuit  of  that  all  too  attrac- 
tive cargo,  and  the  enemy,  whom  they  had  been  destined 
to  intercept,  crept  by  and  moored  safely  in  the  little  har- 
bour of  La  Palisse  in  the  Isle  of  Re.  It  has  been  asserted 
that  the  voyage  was  full  of  great  perils  from  wind  and 
wave,  and  that  the  poor  child  reached  the  shores  of  France 
more  dead  than  alive.  But  Girard  disposes  of  the  fable. 
"My  said  lady,"  he  writes,  "had — God  be  thanked — fair 
weather  and  a  good  passage."  But  a  good  passage  in  this 
case    meant   precisely   three   weeks,   as  the  fleet  sailed  on 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  21 

March  the  27th  and  did  not  arrive  till  the  17th  of  April; 
so  that  all  concerned  may  well  have  been  weary  of  the 
voyage. 

The  following  day  the  squadron  proceeded  to  an  ancho- 
rage at  Chef  du  Bois,  within  a  league  of  La  Rochelle,  but 
it  was  not  till  the  19th  of  April  that  the  Dauphine  set 
foot  on  dry  land.  She  was  received  in  great  state  by  the 
king's  chancellor,  Regnault  de  Chartres,  and  other  high 
officials,  and  was  conducted  to  the  priory  of  Nieul,  hard 
by  La  Rochelle,  to  take  what  must  have  been  a  much 
needed  repose.  For  a  twenty-one  days'  voyage  in  the  very 
primitive  ships  of  the  X Vth  century,  must  have  been  no  small 
tax  on  the  strength  of  a  child  of  twelve.  At  last,  on  the 
3rd  of  May,  she  made  her  state  entry  into  La  Rochelle, 
and  proceeded  on  her  way  to  meet  her  boy-husband  and 
the  long-suffering  King  of  France.  At  length  the  long- 
postponed  marriage  was  to  take  place.  June  25th  was  fixed 
as  the  date,  and  the  ceremony  was  to  be  performed  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Tours. 

The  Dauphine  met  with  a  loyal  reception  en  route,  notably 
at  Poitiers,  where  crowds  came  out  to  meet  her,  and,  to 
crown  all,  a  child  disguised  as  an  angel  was  let  down  from 
the  portal  of  the  city  and  placed  a  wreath  upon  the  head 
of  "my  said  lady.  Which  thing  was  very  genteelly  and 
cunningly  performed."  Laden  with  rich  presents — Poitiers 
alone  had  bestowed  upon  her  silver  plate  worth  two  thou- 
sand "livres  Tournois" — the  princess  arrived  at  Tours  on 
the  24th  of  June,  the  eve  of  her  wedding-day.  Details 
of  her  entry  have  descended  to  us.  A  richly  caparisoned 
palfrey  bore  her,  and  she  was  followed  by  a  number  of 
French  and  Scottish  lords  and  ladies.  On  her  reaching 
the  gateway  the  Lords  of  Maille  and  Gamaches  advanced 
to  meet  her  on  foot,  seized  the  palfrey's  reins  and  so  con- 
ducted her  to  the  royal  castle.     Dismounting  at  the  gate 


22  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

she  was  escorted  by  the  Earl  of  Orkney  and  the  Comte 
de  Vendome,  one  on  either  side,  to  the  foot  of  the  great 
hall  of  the  castle,  which  had  been  hung  for  the  occasion 
with  rich  tapestries  of  Blois,  There  the  Queens  of  France 
and  Sicily,  together  with  the  Princess  Radegonde,  soon  to 
be  her  sister-in-law,  awaited  her.  Her  two  attendant  earls 
now  left  her  side,  and  Yolande  of  Aragon — Queen  of 
Sicily — and  the  Princess  Radegonde  took  their  place  and 
so  led  her  to  the  Queen,  who,  rising  from  the  dais,  went 
forward  to  meet  her,  and,  taking  her  in  her  arms,  embraced 
her  tenderly. 

At  this  point  the  young  Dauphin,  attended  by  a  multitude 
of  knights  and  squires,  made  an  appropriate  entry,  timed  to 
the  moment.  The  Dauphine  was  officially  informed  of  his 
arrival  and  advanced  towards  him.  Thereupon  the  two 
children — to  quote  the  words  of  the  old  French  chronicler 
— **  s'entrebaiserent  et  accolerent,  et  puis  retournerent 
devers  la  Reyne."  These  stiff  formalities  then  came  to  a 
close,  and  the  Queen  taking  the  two  children  with  her  to 
her  own  apartments,  richly  adorned  with  cloth  of  gold, 
they  "played  together  until  it  was  time  for  supper." 

The  king  himself  did  not  arrive  till  the  following  day 
**ung  peu  avant  la  benisson."  But  if  his  arrival  was  late, 
he  lost  not  a  moment  more,  and  hurried  at  once  to  see 
the  daughter-in-law  whose  very  existence  he  must  almost 
have  come  to  regard  as  visionary.  He  entered  her  cham- 
ber and  found  her  being  arrayed  for  the  ceremony.  Appar- 
ently he  was  in  no  wise  disappointed  in  her  appearance; 
for,  says  Girard,  "  le  roy  fut  moult  joyeux  et  bien  content 
de  sa  personne."  But  he  had  little  time  for  an  interview, 
for  the  ceremony  was  just  about  to  commence;  nay,  he 
had  not  time  to  robe  himself  for  the  occasion,  but  attended 
booted  and  spurred,  his  grey  travelHng  dress  showing  dull 
amid  the   blaze  of  colour.     F'or   all   others   were  in  royal 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  23 

attire,  and  the  little  Dauphine  was  clad  in  "raiment  most 
wonderful,  precious  and  splendid.  She  was  of  comely 
figure  and  exceeding  fair  countenance."  "It  was,"  says 
another  chronicler,  "  moult  belle  chose  de  voir  les  paremens 
et  abillemens,  en  quoi  elle  estoit,  les  quelles  elle  avoit  ap- 
portez  de  son  pais."  A  long  robe  flowed  from  her  shoul- 
ders and  a  crown  of  gold  was  about  her  head;  while  on 
that  day  her  young  husband  was  presented  with  the  '*  sword 
of  the  King  of  Scotland,"  as  it  was  known  in  after  days, 
on  the  hilt  of  which  were  figures  of  the  Virgin  and  St.  Michael. 
After  these ^  solemnities  "grant  fut  la  feste."  The  com- 
pany were  divided  between  two  tables.  At  the  upper 
table  were  seated  the  king,  the  two  queens,  the  Dauphine, 
and  the  archbishop  of  Rheims,  with  the  Earl  of  Orkney 
and  the  great  lords  of  France ;  while  at  the  lesser  table 
the  Dauphin  entertained  the  Scottish  nobles.  The  little 
bride  and  bridegroom  were  thus  at  the  very  outset  of 
their  wedded  life  separated  from  one  another.  What  eti- 
quette now  forced  upon  the  Dauphin,  inclination  was  in 
after  years  to  render  easy  and  habitual.  It  might  be  taken 
as  an  omen  of  the  Dauphine's  brief  and  joyless  career. 
However,  at  present  all  was  happiness.  All  dishes  that 
the  art  of  man  could  devise  were  to  be  found  at  the  ban- 
quet: numberless  heralds  and  pursuivants  lent  colour  to 
the  scene,  while  a  veritable  concert  continued  to  the  close ; 
minstrels  and  players  of  "  clarions  and  trumpets,  with  enough 
of  lutes  and  psalteries"  made  music  for  the  guests,  and 
perhaps  also  in  the  midst  of  the  softer  music  of  the  south 
rang  the  shrill  music  of  the  bagpipes.  For  was  not  "Jean 
Fary,  natif  d'Escosse,  menestrel  du  roi  notre  sire,"  in 
France  at  this  period  ?  In  the  words  of  Jean  Chartier,  "  to 
say  sooth  there  was  made  great  and  good  cheer." 

1   A   special   dispeasation   fr-om   the   Pope   had   been   necessary    owing  to 
the  tender  age  of  the  children. 


24  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

And  now,  as  far  as  our  authorities  are  concerned,  there 
comes  a  blank  in  Margaret's  life.  There  are  a  few  scant 
notices  and  then  complete  silence.  It  is  true  that  hitherto 
the  story  has  been  simply  the  history  of  the  moves  of  a 
mere  pawn  in  the  game  of  poHtics.  Personal  touches  have 
of  necessity  been  lacking:  such  colour  as  may  have  in- 
vested the  person  of  our  heroine  has  been  almost  entirely 
reflected.  But  now  we  bid  adieu  to  the  picturesque  if 
slightly  tedious  narrative  of  our  good  friend  Regnault  Girard, 
and  our  path  for  the  next  seven  or  eight  years  is  lit  only 
by  very  occasional  gleams  of  light  from  the  pages  of  Jean 
Chartier,'  Matthieu  de  Coucy,  and  here  and  there  a  state 
paper.  Not  till  the  tragic  close  of  her  life  is  a  strong 
light   cast   once  more  upon  this  fragile  and  fleeting  figure. 

But  we  must  return  to  our  narrative,  even  if  only  to 
stumble  in  our  goings.  For  the  present  the  Dauphin  and 
his  bride  were  completely  separated.  It  was  not  till  1438* 
that  the  two,  being  now  of  marriageable  age,  consummated 
their  marriage  at  Gien-sur-Loire.  In  the  meantime  Mar- 
garet remained  at  the  court.  Her  Scottish  attendants  for 
the  most  part  returned  to  their  native  land.  Some,  how- 
ever, remained  behind  and  married  into  French  families, 
while,  according  to  a  writer  of  the  XVIIth  century,  there 
was  a  regular  emigration  of  Scottish  ladies  to  France  (a 
hundred  and  fifty  is  the  reported  number)  desirous  of  follow- 
ing the  royal  example  and  securing  French  husbands.  Her 
early  life  must  have  been  comparatively  happy.  All  author- 
ities agree  that  Charles  and  his  wife  were  greatly  attracted 
by  the  child,  and  treated  her  with  the  utmost  kindness. 
Even  to  this  day  survive  records  of  the  gifts  made  by 
Charles  to  his  daughter-in-law,  from  a  costly  mirror  presented 
in  1437  t^  ^  g^^^  <^^  2,000  livres  tournois  for  silks  and  fans, 

^  Louis  being  then  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  Margaret  fourteen. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  25 

for  which  we  have  Margaret's  receipt,  signed  but  a  month 
before  her  death. 

But,  from  the  very  first,  sorrows  were  to  overcast  her 
life.  In  1436  her  father  was  assassinated  at  Perth  and 
Scotland  lost  the  best  and  greatest  of  all  her  kings;  and 
in  1438  her  married  life  began.  It  was  unblest  and  full 
of  unhappiness.  Young  as  he  was,  the  Dauphin  had  been 
caught  up  by  the  turbulent  whirlwind  of  those  stormy 
times  into  which  he  was  born.  He  had  in  the  very  year 
of  his  marriage  followed  the  king  in  his  travels  and  his 
wars.  In  that  very  year  he  began  to  play  an  important 
part  in  the  affairs  of  France,  and  we  find  him  leading 
armies  if  only  in  name.  And  by  the  close  of  1439,  when 
he  was  yet  but  17  years  of  age,  he  is  found  at  the  head 
of  a  rebellion  ^  against  his  father.  But  if  Charles  had 
provoked  this  revolt  by  an  unseemly  lack  of  energy,  he 
now  acted  with  commendable  vigour.  Stung  by  the  unfil- 
ial  conduct  of  his  son,  he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
troops,  and  conducted  the  campaign  with  such  success,  that 
in  1440  we  find  the  back  of  the  rebellion  broken,  and  the 
undutiful  Dauphin  suing  for  pardon  from  his  injured  father. 

Among  the  various  requests  made  by  the  penitent  prince, 
there  is  one  only  which  especially  concerns  us.  "Since 
henceforth  it  is  suitable  and  proper  that  my  lady  should 
be  more  continually  with  the  Dauphin  than  heretofore,  may 
it  please  the  king  to  provide  for  the  expenses  of  his  son's 
estate,  and  that  of  Madame  la  Dauphine."  Charles'  reply 
was  dignified.  "When  Monseigneur  le  Dauphin  will 
come  before  the  king  in  all  humility  as  he  ought,  the  king 
will  treat  him  as  his  only  son,  and  will  provide  for  his 
estate  and  that  of  Madame  la  Dauphine  in  such  a  manner 
as  should  fully  content  him."     We  may  probably  conclude 

*  The  well-known  Praguerie. 


26  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

from  this  that  the  Dauphine  had  not  followed  her  husband  in 
his  rebellious  escapades.  But  in  any  case  it  is  clear  that 
Louis'  mind  was  quite  sufficiently  occupied  with  political 
intrigue  at  this  early  stage  in  his  career  to  explain,  though 
in  no  wise  to  excuse,  his  indifference  towards  his  bride. 
And  although  now  civil  war  for  the  time  being  ceased, 
though  Dauphine  and  a  liberal  revenue  had  been  assigned 
to  the  repentant  prince,  there  was  still  much  to  occupy 
him.  Unhappy  France  was  still  disturbed  by  the  slowly 
dying  embers  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  and  there 
were  other  expeditions,  in  which  the  Dauphin  bore  a  not 
inconspicuous  part.  Switzerland  and  Lorraine,  and  the 
walls  of  beleaguered  Metz  all  saw  him  at  the  head  of 
armies.  Rarely  can  the  duties  of  royalty  have  descended 
so  soon,  or  with  so  heavy  a  burden,  on  the  shoulders  of 
a  prince. 

But  in  addition  to  all  this,  he  was  without  his  due  share 
of  natural  affection ;  nature  had  made  him  a  ruler  of 
men,  and  the  turbulence  of  the  arena,  into  which  he  made 
so  early  an  entry,  served  only  to  increase  his  heartlessness. 
And  when  he  was  not  engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  high 
position,  he  was  occupied  in  making  use  of  its  opportunities, 
and  burrowing  underground  to  sap  the  power  of  others, 
even  of  his  father.  There  was  nothing  straightforward 
about  him,  he  was  secret  and  tortuous.  He  can  have  seen 
but  little  of  his  bride,  and  those  brief  hours  which  he  spent 
in  her  company  brought  him  but  little  pleasure.  It  is  true 
that  we  have  what  purport  to  be  his  own  words  of  lamen- 
tation for  the  Dauphine's  death,  but  he  was  supreme  among 
hypocrites,  and  we  shall  see  cause  to  view  his  grief  with 
deep  distrust.  We  may  reject  alike  the  courtly  statements 
of  chroniclers  that  tell  us  of  the  great  love  he  bore  his 
wife,  and  the  very  different  assertion  of  a  late  English 
chronicler,  that  "  the  lady  Margaret,  maryed  to  the  Dolphin, 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  27 

was  of  such  nasty  complexion  and  evil  savoured  breath  that 
he  abhorred  her  company  as  a  clean  creature  doth  a 
caryon."  There  is,  however,  small  doubt  that  the  Dauphin 
had  the  strongest  aversion  for  his  wife.  He  was  not  only 
indifferent,  but  faithless  to  her,  since  he  had  at  least 
one  natural  daughter  during  her  life-time.  We  may  abide 
by  the  words  of  Commynes :  "  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Scotland  to  his  displeasure,  and  as  long  as  he  lived 
regretted  it." 

If,  however,  there  was  much  that  was  sad  in  her  brief 
life,  it  was  not  wholly  bitter.  She  was  young,  beautiful, 
well-formed  and,  according  to  de  Coucy,  who  is  quoting 
from  contemporary  evidence,  "provided  and  adorned  with 
all  those  good  conditions  and  advantages  that  a  noble  and 
exalted  lady  might  well  have." 

Nor  had  she  personal  beauty  only  to  render  her  attractive. 
To  render  herself  worthy  to  be  a  French  Princess  and  in 
days  to  come  perchance  a  Queen,  and  doubtless  also  to 
drown  her  private  griefs,  she  devoted  herself  to  literature. 
She  had  studied  French  to  good  effect,  and  inheriting  a 
portion  of  her  father's  poetic  gifts,  perhaps  directly  inspired 
by  him  in  her  infancy  with  a  love  of  poetry  on  those 
winter  evenings  when  James  read  aloud  to  his  family  by 
the  fireside,  she  wrote  roundels  and  ballads  in  the  language 
of  her  adopted  country  and  would  spend  whole  nights  in 
their  composition,  the  passion  of  poetry  driving  away  fatigue. 
Perhaps  she  formed  the  centre  of  a  small  literary  circle  at 
the  French  court,  ^  but  we  cannot  tell :  all  that  we  know  is 


^  The  long-accepted  story  of  her  invitation  of  the  poetess  Clotilde  de 
Surville  to  the  French  court,  of  the  latter's  refusal  in  verse,  and  the  gift  of 
the  laurel  crown  surmounted  with  12  marguerites,  in  silver  and  gold,  bearing 
the  inscription  "Marguerite  d'Ecosse  a  Marguerite  de  Helicon,"  is  undoubt- 
edly false.  The  poetess  is  a  figment  and  the  whole  story  is  part  and  parcel 
of  a  clever  forgery  devised  to  explain  certain  archaistic  poems — perhaps  by 
M.  de  Surville  (died  1798)— published  in  1803. 


2^8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

that  among  her  immediate  attendants  she  found  rival  poet- 
esses. *  And  it  is  in  connexion  with  this  love  of  literature, 
that  the  best  known  and  the  most  beautiful  of  the  anecdotes 
of  this  princess  has  descended  to  us.  Like  so  many 
picturesque  episodes  in  history,  it  has  recently  been 
proved  to  be  entirely  fictitious,  for  the  excellent  reason 
that  its  hero,  our  old  acquaintance,  Alain  Chartier,  was 
dead  before  Margaret  set  foot  in  France;  but  no  history 
of  the  Dauphine  would  be  complete  without  this  beautiful 
legend.  **  She  loved  greatly,"  says  Bouchet,  in  his  Chroni- 
cles of  Aquitaine,  "the  orators  of  the  common  speech, 
and  among  them  Master  Alain  Chartier,  who  is  the  father 
of  French  eloquence,  and  whom  she  held  in  high  esteem, 
by  reason  of  the  fair  and  excellent  works  that  he  had 
composed.  So  that  one  day  while  she  passed  by  a  hall 
where  the  said  Master  Alain  lay  asleep  upon  a  bench, 
she  kissed  him  before  all  the  company.  But  he  that  was 
escorting  her  took  it  ill,  and  said,  '  Madame,  I  am  amazed 
that  you  have  kissed  this  man,  that  is  so  ugly.*  For  in 
sooth  he  had  not  a  fair  countenance.  Whereat  she  made 
answer:  *It  was  not  the  man  I  kissed,  but  that  precious 
mouth  from  which  so  many  excellent  words  and  virtuous 
speeches  have  proceeded*".  Baseless  though  the  story 
be,  it  was  an  answer  worthy  of  a  Stewart  princess  and  a 
poetess. 

Margaret  was  in  fact  a  woman  of  rare  qualities.  If  she 
had  the  talents  of  her  race,  she  had  also  its  romantic 
temperament,  perhaps  some  of  its  folly.  For  hearing  that 
a  simple  squire,  who  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  in 
a  tournament,  lacked  means  to  help  him  on  the  career  for 
which   gallantry   and   martial   skill   seemed  to  destine  him, 

1  There  actually  exists  a  beautiful  rondeau  by  Jeanne  Filleul,  or  otherwise 
Jeanne  Filloque,  maid-of-honour  to  the  Dauphine;  but  none  of  Margaret's 
writings  have  survived.     (Vide  Le  Roux  de  Lincy's  Femmes  Celebres.) 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  29 

she  sent  him  a  large  gift  of  money.  ^  Such  was  the  manner 
in  which  she  took  her  pleasure;  to  religious  exercises  also 
she  gave  great  attention,  as  was  natural  in  a  deserted  and 
injured  lady  of  imaginative  temperament.  But  her  charms, 
her  rank  and  talent,  were  not  sufficient  to  save  her  from 
evil  report.  The  court  of  France  lacked  the  simplicity  and 
purity  of  the  court  of  James  the  First.  Chastity  was  not 
one  of  the  virtues  of  Charles  VII.  or  his  son,  and  during 
the  last  year  of  Margaret's  life  Agnes  Sorel  ruled  the  heart, 
and  perhaps  was  beginning  to  rule  the  policy  of  the  French 
King.  The  Dauphin  preferred  the  excitements  of  war  and 
intrigue  to  the  calm  of  domestic  life;  and  the  relations  of 
France  and  Scotland  had  become  less  intimate  during  the 
stormy  childhood  of  James  the  Second.  She  seemed  drift- 
ing further  still  from  the  home  of  her  childhood,  while  her 
striking  personality  and  her  unhappy  relations  with  her 
husband  inspired  that  interest  which  goes  always  hand  in 
hand  with  scandal.  Yet  the  few  glimpses  we  are  permitted 
of  Margaret's  life  before  the  final  tragedy  are  pleasant 
and  attractive.  In  1441  she  was  at  last  granted  to  set 
eyes  once  more  upon  one  of  her  sisters.  For  though  history 
is  silent,  we  cannot  reasonably  doubt  that  she  took  part 
in  the  festivities  at  the  marriage  of  her  sister  Isabella  to 
the  Duke  of  Brittany  in  the  autumn  of  1441 ;  but  the  first 
certain  information  that  we  possess  of  her  movements  dates 
nearly  three  years  later.  On  the  ist  of  May,  1444,  we  see 
her,  at  Montils  les  Tours,  go  forth  accompanied  by  the 
Queen  of  France  and  a  vast  concourse  of  lords  and  ladies 
to  "bring  in  May."  Later  in  the  same  year  we  find  her 
moving  in  the  brilliant  court  of  Nancy,  and  attending  the 


1  Duclos  says  300  crowns.  But  in  the  depositions  given  in  the  inquiry  of 
1446  we  hear  that  she  borrowed  600  crowns,  apparently  for  a  similar  purpose, 
thereby  causing  some  scandal.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  these  two  incidents 
should  be  identified. 


30  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

nuptials  of  Margaret  of  Anjou  and  our  own  Henry  the 
Sixth. 

France  had  not  known  the  splendours  of  a  genuine  court 
for  many  years.  Now  there  was  truce  with  England,  and 
the  simplicity  born  of  hard  times  gave  way  to  the  half- 
forgotten  etiquette  of  the  court.  The  king  held  once  more 
the  **  fetes  du  roi"  that  the  Carolingian  kings  and  even 
their  faineant  predecessors  had  held  of  old.  At  Easter, 
Pentecost,  All  Saints'  Day  and  Christmas,  the  king  held  his 
"cour  pleniere."  At  each  "fete"  robes  of  State  were 
distributed  to  the  princes  and  the  high  officers  of  the  King's 
court  and  household,  that  each  one  might  shine  in  appropriate 
splendour ;  while  the  king  himself  on  each  occasion  appeared 
in  fresh  apparel,  with  all  the  emblems  of  royalty.  Heralds 
crying  thrice,  **  Largesse  I  Largesse !  Largesse  I  "  cast  handfuls 
of  money  to  the  crowd  admitted  to  the  hall;  musicians 
and  jugglers  made  amusement  for  the  court,  and  masques 
and  mysteries  provided  entertainment  till  far  into  the  night, 
when  the  guests  retired  each  the  richer  for  a  present  from 
the  royal  liberality.  Here  Margaret  shone  with  a  brief 
brilliance,  a  brilliance  that  perhaps  ultimately  had  a  consider- 
able share  in  causing  her  death,  and  that  certainly  only 
serves  to  show  off  in  a  sharper  and  darker  outline  the 
tragedy  so  soon  to  centre  round  her.  The  court  remained 
at  Nancy  till  the  19th  of  March,  1445,  when  its  festivities 
were  rudely  cut  short  by  the  death  of  Radegonde,  the 
king's  daughter,  whom  we  have  seen  assisting  at  the  splendid 
ceremonies  of  Tours  in  1436.  She  was  the  first  member 
of  the  royal  house  whom  Margaret  had  met,  and  she  was 
younger  even  than  her  sister-in-law,  who  was  in  the  space 
of  a  few  months'  time  to  follow  her  to  the  grave. 

The  court  broke  up,  and  the  Queen,  the  Dauphin,  and 
Margaret  departed  for  Chalons-sur-Marne,  which  they  reached 
upon  the  4th  of  May.     There  they  were  shortly  joined  by 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  31 

the  king  and  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  who  arrived  on  a 
diplomatic  errand  from  her  husband.  She,  like  the  Dauphine 
and  like  the  queen, — for  Agnes  Sorel  was  now  in  the 
ascendant — was  a  neglected  wife.  Her  diplomatic  errand 
was  probably  diplomatic  in  more  senses  than  one,  for  the 
Duke  was  "le  plus  damaret  de  son  epoque";  and  she 
found  a  sympathetic  confidante  in  the  queen.  In  the  words 
of  Olivier  de  la  Marche,  the  two  took  occasion  "pour  se 
douloir  et  complaindre  I'une  a  I'autre  de  leur  creve  coeur." 
Etiquette,  however,  did  not  admit  of  the  duchess  dining  with 
the  king  and  queen,  and  she  was  thus  thrown  into  the 
company  of  the  Dauphine,  for  whom  she  conceived  a  great 
affection  equalled  only  in  intensity  by  her  dislike  for  the 
Dauphin,  with  whom  she  had  high  words,  perchance  on  the 
question  of  his  treatment  of  his  wife.  ^  The  Dauphine  paid 
her  frequent  visits,  often  staying  with  her  for  two  or  three 
days  together.  She  had  indeed  not  a  little  need  of  sym- 
pathy, as  we  are  soon  to  see. 

For  the  moment,  however,  the  presence  of  a  distinguished 
visitor  had  brightened  the  mourning  court  not  a  little,  and 
on  July  the  2nd,  after  a  great  banquet,  we  read  of  a  ballet 
entitled  the  "Basse  Danse  de  Bourgogne,"  danced  by  the 
Queen  of  Sicily,  the  Duchess  of  Calabria,  the  Dauphin,  and 
the  Count  of  Clermont.  But  for  Margaret  the  dark  days  were 
approaching.  Her  constitution  was  not  naturally  strong, 
and  she  had  further  impaired  it  by  her  long  night-watches, 
passed  with  her  friendly  rivals  Jeanne  Filleul,  Pregente  de 
Melun,  and  Marguerite  de  Salignac,  in  the  service  of  poetry. 
She  was  sick  of  mind  as  well  as  body,  and  it  is  hard 
to  doubt  that  the  slanderous  tales  that  engendered  this 
agony  of  spirit,  assisted  and  intensified  the  rapid  malady 
of  which  she  died. 

*  It  is  thus  represented  in  a  picturesque  little  story  with  Margaret  for  its 
heroine.  /Zes  Marguerites  du  temps  passe,  by  Madame  Dannestetter.) 


32  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  to  the  court  of  Nancy 
or  perhaps  yet  further  still.  Under  the  splendid  exterior  of 
the  restored  French  court,  all  was  not  well.  Dissension 
was  rife.  Taking  no  notice  of  cross  currents,  we  may 
roughly  state  that  there  were  two  factions— for  the  King 
and  for  the  Dauphin.  The  network  of  these  intrigues  is 
intricate  in  the  extreme,  and  perhaps  the  death  of  Margaret 
is  a  mere  episode  in  their  history.  It  is  a  task  for  those 
who  are  treating  a  far  wider  subject  than  the  present, 
to  unravel  the  obscure  story  of  the  domestic  factions  at 
the  court  of  Charles  the  Seventh.  As  far  as  can  be  seen 
in  the  confusion  of  this  strange  and  fragmentary  tangle, 
the  King  has  upon  his  side  the  Dauphine  and  the  Queen 
— for  apparently  no  injury  could  vanquish  or  estrange 
that  unhappy  lady's  loyal  docility.  Further,  Margaret 
finds  her  worst  enemy  in  Jamet  du  Tillay,  the  devoted 
adherent  of  her  husband.  How  far  the  latter  was  con- 
cerned in  the  attack  upon  his  wife's  fair  fame,  which  it 
is  now  our  task  to  relate,  will  in  all  probability  never  be 
clearly  ascertained.  If  he  did  not  actually  instigate  the 
plot,  he,  at  least,  during  his  wife's  lifetime,  seems  to  have 
countenanced  the  very  questionable  proceedings  of  du  Tillay. 
And  it  is  very  difficult  to  discover  any  motive  for  Jamet's 
conduct,  other  than  the  desire  to  please  his  master.  The 
crafty  Louis  no  doubt  never  committed  himself  to  positive 
approval,  but  by  refusing  to  disapprove  worked  his  will. 

But  if  Louis  had  a  hand  in  the  affair,  what  could  his 
motive  have  been?  It  is  a  question  the  solution  of  which 
is  entirely  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  Dauphin  was,  we 
know,  jealous  of  his  father's  power,  and  this  jealousy  seems 
to  have  been  fanned  to  fury  by  the  advent  of  Agnes  Sore! 
and  the  influence  she  exercised  with  the  king.  And  in 
addition  to  this  there  is  a  curious  point  to  notice  in  the 
plot   that   came   to  light  only  a  year  after  the  Dauphine' s 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  33 

death.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  all  its  details. 
Louis  had  designs  upon  his  father's  person,  and  these  de- 
signs were  thwarted  by  the  loyalty  of  the  Scottish  guard. 
"II  n'y  a  rien,"  he  said,  in  an  unguarded  moment  to  a 
friend,  "que  de  mettre  ces  gens  dehors."  Can  it  be,  as 
M.  F.  Michel  seems  to  suggest  in  his  "Ecossais  en  France," 
that  Louis  found  the  presence  of  his  wife  a  bar  to  these 
dark  designs?  Clearly,  while  she  lived  and  was  in  high 
favour  with  the  king,  the  presence  of  the  Scottish  guard 
was  secured,  and  its  importance  perhaps  heightened.  Her 
death  or  dishonour  might  well  mean  the  disgrace  or  dis- 
missal of  the  Scottish  guard,  whom  he  felt  to  be  such  a 
serious  obstacle  to  his  schemes.  It  is  a  possible  and  plaus- 
ible theory,  but  it  is  no  more  than  a  theory.  Many  other 
explanations  might  equally  well  be  advanced.  The  perse- 
cution of  the  Dauphine  may  merely  have  been  the  work 
of  an  inhuman  husband,  possessed  by  the  strongest  aversion 
for  his  wife.  Ulterior  motive  there  may  have  been  none. 
Or  it  is  even  possible  that  Louis  was  guilty  of  no  worse 
fault  than  heartless  indifference.  There  is  indeed  but  one 
fact  that  seems  to  lend  definite  colour  to  the  theory  that 
du  Tillay  was  deliberately  working  for  the  Dauphin,  and 
that  is,  the  strong  objection  expressed  by  him  to  the  pre- 
sence among  the  Dauphine's  attendants  of  certain  ladies, 
who  had  been  appointed  through  the  influence  of  the  queen 
and  Agnes  Sorel.  But  the  general  impression  given  by 
the  evidence  of  the  witnesses  examined  at  the  inquiry  into 
the  circumstances  of  Margaret's  death,  is,  that  she  was  the 
centre  of  a  struggle  of  influences,  and  that  Jamet  du  Tillay 
concerned  himself  actively  in  this  contest,  under  a  careful 
disguise  of  quasi-paternal  anxiety  for  the  Dauphine's  welfare. 
There  is,  we  shall  see,  always  underlying  the  expres- 
sions of  anxiety  for  the  health  and  fair  fame  of  the  princess, 
the  persistent  recurrence  of  the  charge  of  slander,  and  the 

3 


34  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

bitter  complaints  of  Margaret  herself  against  Jamet  seem 
to  dispose  of  any  idea  that  he  was  merely  a  good-natured 
and  well-meaning,  but  utterly  tactless  busy-body.  It  is  a 
difficult  task,  however,  to  trace  with  any  clearness  the  pre- 
cise course  of  events  in  this  perplexing  story.  For  evid- 
ence we  are  entirely  dependent  on  the  enquiry  which  we 
have  mentioned.  It  is  hard  to  reconstruct  history  out  of 
the  conflicting  evidence  given  at  an  inquest.  It  is  rendered 
doubly  hard  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a  total  lack  of  method 
in  the  official  report,  that  dates  are  confused  and  that 
there  are  many  irreparable  gaps. 

Though,  therefore,  to  elaborate  the  story,  and  set  it  forth 
in  all  its  twists  and  turnings  be  impracticable,  and  in 
view  of  the  slender  and  unsatisfactory  evidence,  per- 
haps unprofitable,  we  can,  without  grave  injustice,  draw  a 
general  conclusion  as  to  the  situation  in  which  the  unfortunate 
princess  found  herself  placed,  and,  if  we  cannot  know  all 
that  transpired  behind  the  scenes,  can  at  least  paint  an 
impressionist  sketch  of  the  drama  as  enacted  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world. 

The  first  hint  of  trouble  seems  to  take  us  back  to  a  period 
some  two  years  before  the  Dauphine's  death.  What  pre- 
cisely had  happened  we  cannot  tell,  but  Jamet  du  Tillay 
had  already  incurred  Margaret's  grave  displeasure.  More 
than  once  she  said  to  Marguerite  de  Villequier,  ^  one  of  her 
attendant  ladies,  that  of  all  men  she  hated  Jamet  du  Tillay 
most.  Scandal,  or  the  rumour  of  it,  had  already  reached 
her  ears;  and  it  must  have  been  serious  to  have  excited 
such  bitter  words.  But  with  the  exception  of  this  brief 
utterance — perhaps  wrongly  dated  through  some  slip  of 
memory   on  the   part  of  the  witness,  we  hear  no  more  of 

1  Presumably  one  of  the  most  impartial  witnesses,  as  the  king's  party  had, 
for  reasons  unknown,  succeeded  in  having  her  removed  from  the  Dauphine's 
household.     wShe  was,  however,  kinswoman  to  Agnes  Sorel. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND         35 

evil  rumours  till  the  following  year,  when,  as  has  been 
mentioned,  the  court  was  at  Nancy.  Then  occurred  a 
serious  incident. 

One  winter  evening  about  Christmas-tide  Jamet  du  Tillay, 
"bailli  de  Vermandois,"  entered  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
into  the  chamber  of  the  Dauphine.  He  found  the  princess 
lying  upon  her  bed,  surrounded  by  her  ladies.  Leaning, 
as  Jamet  thought,  somewhat  too  famiharly  against  the  bed, 
were  two  young  lords,  Jean  d'Estouteville  and  another  whom 
Jamet  failed  to  recognize.  The  room  was  lighted  solely 
by  the  flickering  gleam  of  the  hearth,  and  Du  Tillay  pro- 
fesses to  have  been  scandalized  by  the  impropriety  of  the 
situation,  and  to  have  rebuked  the  mattre  d' hotels  Regnault 
de  Dresnay,  with  severity.  As  to  his  precise  words  on 
this  occasion  there  is  not  a  little  doubt.  According  to  his 
own  version,  he  said  that  it  was  "grande  paillardise"  for 
the  maitre  d' hotel  and  the  other  officers  of  the  household 
to  leave  the  chamber  of  so  great  a  lady  without  torches 
at  that  hour  of  the  night.  But  the  account  given  by  other 
witnesses  was  different.  They  represented  him  as  having 
said  that  such  conduct  was  worthy  rather  of  a  paillarde 
than  of  a  great  lady.  There  are  perhaps  reasons  for  hold- 
ing the  latter  version  to  be  the  more  correct. '  It  is,  at 
any  rate,  a  good  deal  more  than  probable  that  such  was 
the  common  impression,  and  we  can  hardly  doubt  that  this 
version  came  to  the  ears  of  the  Dauphine  and  perhaps  also 
to  those  of  her  husband.  For  a  little  later  ^  we  find  Mar- 
garet once  more  declaiming  with  great  bitterness  against 
some  traducer,  who,  though  not  expressly  named,  is  almost 


1  For  the  word  '^paillardise''''  is  much  more  likely  to  be  used  of  the 
indiscretions  of  a  ^'grande  dame''\  than  of  what  was  after  all  merely  careless- 
ness and  bad  taste  on  the  part  of  the  household. 

'  Later,  for  the  date  is  indicated  by  the  words  "before  the  Queen  left  Nancy", 
clearly  pointing  to  the  end  of  her  sojourn  there. 


36  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

certainly  to  be  identified  with  du  Tillay.  **  There  is  one," 
she  cried  to  her  ladies,  "who  is  over  light  of  speech,  and 
whom  I  do  well  to  hate.  For  he  has  ever  striven  his  best, 
and  is  still  striving  to  discredit  me  in  the  eyes  of  Monseigneur 
the  Dauphin.  It  has  given  me,  and  gives  me  still,  great 
sorrow  of  heart,  for  no  man  could  speak  worse  words  of 
a  woman  than  he  of  me."  There  seems  here  to  be  an  ob- 
vious reference  to  the  unhappy  episode  of  Christmas  and 
the  coarse  words  of  du  Tillay,  while  it  at  least  shows  that 
Margaret  believed  her  persecutor  to  have  for  his  aim  a  still 
further  estrangement  between  herself  and  her  husband. 

At  what  period  exactly  it  was  that  du  Tillay  first 
expressed  his  disapproval  of  the  personal  attendants  of 
the  princess,  we  cannot  say.  It  was  probably  at  some 
period  of  1445,  for  Pregente  de  Melun,  for  whom  he  appears 
to  have  had  an  especial  aversion,  had  been  transferred  from 
the  household  of  the  Queen  to  that  of  the  Dauphine,  largely 
through  the  influence  of  Agnes  Sorel — whose  ascendency 
was  of  recent  date ;  and  we  gather  also  from  du  Tillay's 
defence  of  himself  that  Margaret  was  already  in  failing 
health.  Indeed  Jamet  was  reported  to  have  said  that  the 
Dauphine  was  sick  of  love,  that  her  death  would  be  of 
small  loss  to  the  realm,  perhaps  also  that  Pregente  de 
Melun  was  her  accomplice  in  her  "affaires  de  coeur."  * 

Jamet,  however,  protested  that  he  had  done  no  worse  than 
remonstrate  with  Pregente,  Jeanne  Filleul  and  Marguerite 
de  Salignac  for  permitting — nay,  encouraging  the  Dauphine 
to  keep  such  late  hours.  The  doctors  had  told  him  that 
the  princess  ran  grave  risks  of  falling  into  a  serious  illness 


1  Du  Tillay  is  reported  to  have  said  of  Pregente :  "Je  voudrais  bien  qu'elle 
ne  se  melat  point  du  tout  dans  les  affaires  de  Madame  la  Dauphine,  car  elle 
pourrait  etre  cause  de  quelque  malheur".  The  importance  that  seems  to  be 
attached  to  these  words  and  their  context  in  the  inquiry  seems  to  warrant 
the  above  suggestion. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  37 

if  she  persisted  in  her  long  vigils.  As  to  his  having  said 
that  she  was  sick  of  love,  he  had  no  remembrance  of  saying 
anything  of  the  sort ;  whilst  concerning  the  charges  that  he 
had  brought  accusations  of  unchastity  against  her  and  had 
attempted  to  estrange  her  from  her  husband,  he  had  never 
seen  aught  in  her  that  he  would  not  willingly  see  in  his 
own  wife,  and  whosoever  taxed  him  with  such  dastardly 
conduct  lied  foully  in  his  throat  and  should  answer  for  it 
in  single  combat. 

Whether  Jamet's  explanations  were  true  or  not,  they  were 
at  least  plausible.  For,  without  doubt,  Margaret  was  far  too 
careless  of  her  health.  A  lady  of  delicate  constitution  could 
hardly  hope  to  make  roundel-writing  a  satisfactory  substitute 
for  sleep.  For,  to  quote  a  fragment  of  a  conversation,  which 
took  place  between  du  Tillay  and  the  king  during  her  last 
illness:  "Madame  kept  such  long  watches,  now  greater, 
now  less,  that  sometimes  it  was  almost  sunrise  before  she 
went  to  her  bed,  and  often  Monseigneur  the  Dauphin  had 
been  long  time  asleep  before  she  withdrew  to  her  chamber, 
and  often  she  spent  the  hours  of  the  night  in  writing 
roundels,  as  many  as  twelve  perchance,  in  the  revolution 
of  one  day,  *qui  lui  estoit  chose  bien  contraire'".  **That 
is  bad  for  the  head,  is  it  not?"  asked  the  king.  "Yes," 
replied  one  present,  "if  it  be  indulged  in  over  much — 
mais  ce  sont  choses  de  plaisance." 

But  although  her  health  may  have  been  tottering,  her 
condition  does  not  seem  to  have  caused  serious  anxiety, 
till  some  time  after  her  arrival  at  Chalons.  And  even  there, 
as  we  have  seen,  she  was  able  to  enjoy  life.  It  was  also 
at  Chalons  that  the  jousts  took  place,  in  connexion  with 
which  is  told  the  romantic  story  of  the  poor  squire,  and  the 
Dauphine's  liberality.  It  must  also  have  been  during  her 
residence  at  Chalons  that  she  interceded  with  the  king  for 
the  inhabitants  of  Metz,  then  invested  by  the  armies  of  France. 


38  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Now,  however,  we  are  drawing  very  near  the  end. 
Margaret's  sorrows  seem  to  have  awakened  the  pangs  of 
homesickness,  and  she  had  obtained  permission  from  the 
king  for  two  of  her  sisters  to  come  over  to  France  and 
reside  with  her.  But  she  was  never  to  have  the  joy  of 
setting  eyes  on  them.  Now,  also,  her  friend  and  consoler, 
the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  departed  from  the  French  court. 
She  had  perhaps  been  a  peace-maker  ^  in  the  disturbed 
atmosphere  surrounding  the  Royal  household;  she  had,  at 
any  rate,  proved  a  comforter  in  some  of  its  distresses.  Nor 
was  her  departure  the  only  blow  that  befell  the  Dauphine.  ^ 
About  the  same  time  it  is  said,  (though  on  what  evidence 
is  not  quite  clear)  that  an  angry  interview  took  place 
between  Margaret  and  her  husband.  Perhaps  it  was  in 
connexion  with  the  episode  at  Nancy,  which  the  officious 
du  Tillay  had  reported  to  his  master ;  perhaps  in  connexion 
with  the  bestowal  of  the  six  hundred  crowns  on  the  hero 
of  the  jousts.  The  story  of  this  scene  is  not  well  authen- 
ticated and  we  can  only  conjecture. 

The  shock  may  have  further  weakened  the  tottering  fabric. 
At  any  rate,  on  the  seventh  of  August,  as  the  result  of  a 
pilgrimage  in  company  with  the  king  from  the  Chateau 
de  Sarry,  near  Chalons,  to  Notre  Dame  de  TEpine,  she 
took    a   chill.     The    day    had    been   very  hot,   and  on  her 

^  Such  at  least  is  a  plausible  interpretation  of  a  passage  in  the  lament  for 
the  Dauphine  composed  probably  by  her  sister,  Isabella  of  Brittany. 
Adieu,  duchesse  de  Bourgogne, 
La  mienne  seur  o  cueur  jolis; 
Si  vous  povez  par  nulle  voye, 
Mettez  pais  en  la  fleur  de  lis. 
2  It   is   perhaps   to  this  that  Jeanne  de  Tuce  alludes  in  her  evidence.    The 
Dauphine    complained   "  qu'il   I'avait   mise   hors   de   la   grace   du   Roi  et  du 
monseigneur   le   Dauphin,   qu'elle   craignait  plus   en   ce    cas  que  nul  autre." 
There   may  also  be  an  allusion  to  the  accusation  brought  against  du  Tillay, 
that   he   had   written   anonymous    and  slanderous  letters  to  the  king.     These 
words  are  said  to  have  been  uttered  at  the  beginning  of  August.    But  Jeanne's 
dates  are  inconsistent,  and  it  was  probably  a  little  earlier. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  39 

return  to  the  Chateau  she  had  sat  for  some  time  lightly 
clad  in  a  cold  and  draughty  room  on  the  ground  floor, 
with  the  result  that  on  the  next  day,  to  quote  the  grotesque 
bulletin  of  her  physician,  *'a  cold  was  engendered  in  her 
brain.  And  perchance  from  her  said  brain  a  portion  of 
these  corrupted  humours  may  have  fallen  upon  portions  of 
her  lungs,  and  caused  the  ulceration  of  her  said  lung."  In 
other  words,  her  imprudent  conduct  had  resulted  in  inflamma- 
tion of  the  lungs.  Her  condition  rapidly  became  serious, 
but  the  disease  appears  to  have  fluctuated  in  such  a  manner, 
as  now  to  give  grounds  for  the  strongest  hopes,  now  to 
plunge  her  friends  anew  into  the  most  profound  alarm. 
She  was  removed  to  Chalons  at  the  outset  of  her  malady. 
The  church  bells  were  forbidden  to  ring  for  fear  of  disturbing 
her  slumbers.  The  king  was  in  great  distress ;  he  had  just 
lost  his  daughter,  he  was  now  it  seemed  to  lose  his  daughter- 
in-law,  for  whom  he  appears  to  have  entertained  a  very 
genuine  affection. 

Meanwhile  the  Dauphine  lying  on  her  bed  of  pain  com- 
plained rather  of  sickness  of  the  soul  than  of  the  body. 
Though  the  actual  cause  of  her  disease  was  purely  physical, 
the  miserable  state  of  her  mind  deprived  her  of  ''the  will 
to  live"  and  sapped  her  already  lowered  vitality.  On  the 
lOth  of  August  Jeanne  de  Tuce  tried  to  console  her,  and 
bade  her  be  of  good  cheer  and  lay  aside  her  melancholy. 
"I  have  good  cause  to  be  melancholy,"  replied  the  dying 
princess,  "  and  to  be  sad  at  heart  by  reason  of  the  words 
that  have  been  spoken  of  me,  words  wicked  and  without 
cause.  For  as  I  have  hopes  of  salvation,  I  have  not  done 
aught  of  that  wherewith  men  charge  me,  nay,  nor  thought 
thereof."  And  a  few  days  later,  when  the  force  of  the 
malady  increased,  her  complaints  became  yet  more  open. 
Often  and  in  the  presence  of  many  witnesses  she  cried 
from    her  "couch  of  fire."     *'Ahl  Jamet,  Jamet,  you  have 


40  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

attained  to  your  end.  If  I  die,  'tis  by  reason  of  you  and 
the  words  that  you  have  spoken  of  me  without  cause  or 
justification."  Then  raising  her  arms  to  heaven  she  beat 
her  breast  and  continued:  "I  swear  by  God  Almighty,  by 
my  soul,  and  the  baptism  which  I  received  at  the  font,  that, 
though  I  die,  I  have  never  deserved  aught  that  men  have 
said  of  me,  nor  have  I  done  any  wrong  to  my  lord  the 
Dauphin."  Pierre  de  Breze,  seneschal  of  Poitou,  was  so 
stirred  by  these  piteous  words,  that  he  cried  out,  as  he 
left  the  chamber,  addressing  du  Tillay,  ''Mechant  ribaud, 
c'est  toi  qui  la  fais  mourir,"  and  so  departed  *'bien  marry 
et  dolent,"  saying,  ''c'est  grand  pitie  de  la  douleur  et 
courroux,  que  souffre  cette  dame." 

Her  strength  gradually  sank.  Du  Tillay,  who,  to  use 
Margaret's  words,  felt  "que  son  fait  branlait,"  had  made 
vain  attempts  even  before  her  illness  to  obtain  audience 
of  the  princess,  and  defend  himself  personally  against  the 
charges  she  brought  against  him.  But  Margaret  would 
have  nothing  to  say  to  him.  Du  Tillay  adopted  a  politic 
attitude,  and  expressed  profound  grief  on  hearing  of  the 
illness.  He  played  the  part  of  sympathiser  to  the  king, 
saying,  **  How  many  misfortunes,  sire,  have  come  upon  us 
in  so  small  a  time;  there  has  come  greater  sorrow  upon 
this  land  than  ever  yet  came  upon  any.  We  have  had  all 
these  great  lords  quarrelling  with  one  another,  and  now  to 
lose  this  lady  would  be  the  greatest  ill  that  could  befall  us." 
All  his  efforts,  however,  were  of  no  avail.  The  princess 
was  obdurate,  and  all  the  entreaties  of  her  ladies  and  her 
confessor  could  not  induce  her  to  grant  him  forgiveness. 
At  last,  however,  she  felt  her  end  very  near  at  hand,  and 
her  confessor,  Robert  Poitevin,  was  summoned  to  her  bed- 
side for  the  last  time.  "Madame,"  he  said,  "is  your  heart 
full  of  thinking  upon  the  God  you  must  soon  meet?"  and 
she    answered    "Yes,    Master   Robert."      "Madame,    forget 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND         41 

Him  not,"  urged  the  confessor.  "Nay,  nay,"  was  the 
reply,  "I  will  never  forget  Him!"  Then  after  a  pause — 
**  Madame,  have  you  pardoned  all  the  world?"  But  to 
this  she  answered  never  a  word.  Then  Marguerite  de  Salig- 
nac,  taking  Master  Robert  aside,  said,  "  You  must  make  her 
pardon  Jamet  du  Tillay."  He  returned  to  the  bedside  and 
wrung  the  confession  from  her  that  there  was  yet  one  whom 
she  had  not  forgiven.  "Nay,  Madame,"  said  the  courtly 
priest,  "  it  must  be  that  you  have  pardoned  him  for  such 
is  your  duty."  But  three  times  the  dying  Dauphine  re- 
iterated that  she  had  not  done  so.  Then  Jeanne  de  Tuce, 
Regnault  de  Dresnay  and  her  ladies  round  her  added  their 
prayers  to  those  of  the  confessor,  saying  that  as  she  hoped 
for  pardon  from  God  she  ought  to  pardon  all  the  world 
and  forgive  him  in  all  good  heart.  Then  at  last  said  the 
princess,  "I  pardon  him,  then,  and  with  all  my  heart." 

From  this  point  she  sank  rapidly.  A  few  hours  before 
her  death  she  was  heard  to  murmur.  "N'etait  ma  foi,  je 
me  repentirais  volontiers  d'etre  venue  en  France."  And 
soon  after  at  10  o'clock  of  the  evening  of  the  i6th  August,^ 
she  passed  away  in  the  twentieth  year  of  her  age,  sur- 
rounded by  foreigners,  a  childless  and  neglected  wife,  ^  in 
a  strange  land,  her  kinsfolk  far  away.  Her  last  words 
were,  "  Fy  de  la  vie  de  ce  monde,  n'en  parlez  plus." 

The  king  and  queen  were  deeply  distressed  at  her  death. 
The  queen  fell  sick  of  grief,  and  the  king  on  the  following 
day  hastily  quitted  Chalons  "dolent,  courrouce  et  trouble  de 
son  trespas."  Her  crafty  husband  feigned  the  deepest 
grief— for   we   cannot,   considering   his   known   attitude  to- 


*  She  was  bom  in  1424  and  died  August  i6th,  1445.  Her  age  has  been 
erroneously  given  as  26  and  the  year  of  her  f.u\,.a  now  as  1444,  now 
as  1445- 

3  Her  barrenness  was  apparently  commonly  reported  to  be  due  to  her  own 
imprudence  in  partaking  overmuch  of  unripe  fruit  and  vinegar. 


42  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

wards  his  wife,  and  his  habitual  heartlessness  consider  it 
to  have  been  genuine.  However,  the  evidence*  for  his 
tears,  although  contemporary,  is  not  first  hand,  and  even  if 
we  suppose  the  narrative  to  be  true,  it  has  a  melodramatic 
tinge  about  it,  which  scarcely  accords  with  true  grief. 
For  Louis  is  represented  as  dissolved  in  woe,  and  moan- 
ing, "What  a  destiny  has  God  given  mel  I  have  never 
had  one  happy  hour  of  life.  For,  first  of  all,  I  was  hated 
of  my  father,  and  later  I  was  constrained  to  depart  out 
of  France,  and  make  war  in  Germany,  and  last  of  all  to 
besiege  this  town  of  Metz.  And  now  God  takes  from 
me  that  which  I  loved  best  in  all  the  world."  Louis 
protests  too  much.  His  grief,  however,  did  not  in  the 
least  affect  his  political  activity,  and  within  an  hour 
or  two  of  his  wife's  death,  he  issued  orders  for  the 
administration  of  Dauphine  as  though  nothing  of  moment 
had  occurred. 

Margaret's  is  a  pathetic  death-scene,  and  its  pathos  is 
intensified  by  the  arrival  in  France  on  the  very  day  of 
their  sister's  death,  of  the  two  Scottish  princesses.  They 
arrived  too  late,  to  find  a  double  grief  awaiting  them. 
For  on  the  same  day  they  learnt  the  news  both  of  their 
sister's  death  and  of  that  of  their  mother,  who  had  expired 
shortly  after  their  departure  from  Scotland.  "  Una  dies 
haec  omnia  ademit."  We  may  imagine  Margaret,  who  had 
longed  for  their  companionship,  asking  often  as  she  lay 
dying,  if  her  sisters  had  yet  come.  Now  she  was  gone, 
and  they  could  look  but  on  her  embalmed  face.  Whether 
she  had  been  spared  the  grief  of  learning  that  her 
mother  was  dead  we  do  not  know;  it  seems  probable 
that  the  news  did  not  reach  Chalons  till  shortly  after 
her  death. 

1   Chronique  de  Praillon,  Relation  du  siege  de  Metz. 


TOMB     OF     THE     PRINCESS     MARGARET. 


To  face  p.  43. 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  43 

She  was  buried  in  the  Cathedral  of  Chalons.  It  had 
been  the  intention  of  the  king,  that  her  body  should  thence 
be  removed  to  the  royal  tombs  of  St.  Denis.  But  the  Dauphin 
grudged  this  honour  to  his  injured  wife.  For  thirty-four 
years  her  body  reposed  in  the  Cathedral  church  on  the 
Marne.  Then  Louis  gave  orders  that  her  remains  *  should 
be  removed  to  the  great  church  of  St.  Laon  of  Thouars. 
There  she  lies,  but  her  memorial,  (of  which  a  sketch  has 
been  reproduced  for  the  present  volume),  after  suffering 
grievous  things  at  the  hands  of  the  Huguenots,  seems 
to  have  suffered  the  usual  fate  of  royal  tombs  during  the 
French  Revolution. 

But  although  she  was  gone,  the  memory  of  her  death 
did  not  rapidly  pass  away.  In  October  1445  an  inquiry 
was  held  at  Chalons  by  order  of  the  king,  to  investigate 
the  conduct  of  du  Tillay.  For,  guilty  or  not,  there  was  a 
wide-spread  feeling  of  indignation  against  him,  and  numbers 
of  the  young  lords  of  the  court  challenged  him  to  single 
combat.  The  king,  however,  interposed  and  pursued  the 
inquiry  with  a  remarkable  vigour  and  persistence,  renewing 
it  again  in  the  summer  of  the  ensuing  year.  The  Dauphin 
also,  as  was  absolutely  necessary  for  his  credit,  took  an 
active  part  in  the  proceedings.  But  what  the  precise  cause 
of  such  persistence  may  have  been  is  hidden  from  us. 
The  gravest  suspicion  was  evidently  attached  in  the  highest 
quarters  to  the  conduct  of  du  Tillay,  and  probably  at  the 
back  of  this  complicated  affair  we  have,  as  has  been  already 
indicated,  some  dark  court  intrigue. 

Much  evidence  was  brought  against  du  Tillay,  but  he 
parried  all  attacks  with  great  skill,  often,  it  is  true,  giving 
the  statements  attributed  to  him  a  blank  denial,  more 
generally   contenting   himself  with  showing  how  perversely 

1  They  were  enclosed  ia  three  different  caskets — the  body  in  one,  the 
entrails  in  a  second,  the  heart  in  the  third. 


44  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

innocent  words  of  his  had  been  misinterpreted,  and  saying, 
Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pense.  But  the  cumulative  evidence 
is  too  strong  for  us  entirely  to  believe  in  his  innocence. 
What  was  the  result  of  the  inquiry,  there  is  nothing  to 
show.  That  it  was  not  wholly  adverse  to  du  Tillay  is 
obvious,  for  he  continued  to  enjoy  the  favour  of  royalty. 
Indeed  it  is  hard  to  see  how  on  the  evidence  that  has 
come  down  to  us,  he  could  possibly  have  been  condemned. 
In  England  he  would  obtain  a  verdict  of  **not  guilty," 
in  Scotland  of  "not  proven."  To  revert  for  a  moment  to 
a  point  on  which  we  have  already  touched — namely,  the 
Dauphin's  conspiracy  of  1446,  even  if  we  should  suppose 
Louis  to  have  instigated  the  attack  upon  his  wife  with  a 
view  to  the  furtherance  of  his  nefarious  aims,  we  cannot 
with  fairness  involve  du  Tillay  in  the  full  shadow  of  his 
guilt.  Du  Tillay's  name  was  never  coupled  with  that  con- 
spiracy. He  was  rather  the  blind,  perhaps  the  well- 
intentioned,  instrument  of  an  unscrupulous  master.  We 
may,  without  injustice,  brand  his  conduct  as  unworthy  of 
a  gentleman  of  France ;  it  would  perhaps  be  unfair  to 
gibbet  him  as  a  criminal. 

As  for  our  unfortunate  heroine,  her  innocence  is  beyond 
reasonable  doubt.  There  is  scarcely  a  word  in  all  the 
evidence,  that  could  with  any  justice  suggest  that  she  was 
faithless  to  her  faithless  husband.  Foolish  she  may  have 
been  with  the  folly  of  a  romantic  girl.  The  love  of  poetry 
may  have  had  a  share  in  her  death  in  more  senses  than 
one.  She  was  careless  of  her  health,  she  was  perhaps 
over-rash  and  impulsive  in  her  emotions.  But  wisdom  and 
a  well-balanced  judgment  were  rarely  a  portion  of  the 
heritage  of  the  Stewarts.  Even  her  father,  undeniably 
great  as  he  was,  had  not  the  highest  political  wisdom.  And 
like  her  more  famous  and  more  tragic  kinswoman,  who  a 
century  later  was  also  a  Dauphin's  bride,  she  never  had  a 


THE  PRINCESS  MARGARET  OF  SCOTLAND  45 

fair  chance  in  the  struggle  of  life.  Wedded  to  a  false  hus- 
band, set  in  the  midst  of  a  licentious  court  she  may  well 
be  accounted  happy,  if  she  gave  no  true  cause  for  scandal ; 
to  have  escaped  it  altogether  would  have  been  blessedness 
unlooked  for  indeed.  For  if,  perhaps,  she  had  some  of  the 
weaknesses  of  the  Stewarts,  she  had  their  full  dower  of 
charm.  Historians  almost  without  exception  have  passed 
a  sympathetic  verdict  upon  her ;  her  memory  is  fragrant  in 
the  pages  of  the  French  chroniclers;  and  her  sad  death 
was  the  subject  of  many  an  elegy — nay,  was  actually  sung 
by  a  Stewart  princess  herself.  ^  One  thing  alone  was 
wanting  to  her — true  love.  Had  this  been  granted  to  her, 
she  had  not  been  "done  to  death  by  slanderous  tongues." 
For  her  epitaph  we  may  quote  the  simple  comment  of 
the  chronicler.  **At  this  time  also  my  lady  the  Dau- 
phine  died,  which  was  great  pity,  for  she  was  a  noble 
lady."  ' 

So  we  take  leave  of  ''Marguerite  la  Madeleine".^  She 
is  a  slight  figure  seen  only  here  and  there  through  gaps 
in  the  hurrying  crowds,  that  throng  this  stirring  period  of 

1  In  the  poem  by  her  sister,  Isabella  of  Brittany,  referred  to  some  pages 
back.  It  is  a  work  of  no  literary  and  very  small  historical  value.  It  is  quoted 
in  full  in  Michel's  "  j^cossais  en  France." 

2  As  to  the  authorities  to  whom  I  have  referred  for  this  slight  sketch  of 
the  Dauphine,  Margaret  of  Scotland,  I  am  particularly  indebted  to  the  History 
of  Charles  VII.  by  M.  du  Fresne  de  Beaucourt  and  to  M.  Jusserand's  Romance 
of  a  King's  Life.  I  have  also  consulted  the  reports  of  the  three  inquiries 
into  the  conduct  of  Jamet  du  Tillay,  together  with  the  Narration  of  Regnault 
Girard,  which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  National  Library  of  Paris.  These  last 
two  works  form  the  mainstay  as  regards  the  evidence  concerning  the  life  of 
this  little  known  princess.  In  addition  to  this,  du  Fresne  de  Beaucourt's 
edition  of  Matthieu  de  Coucy,  and  the  Chronicle  of  Jean  Chartier  give  some 
useful  information.  Michel's  account  of  the  Dauphine  seems  to  be  taken  almost 
word  for  word  out  of  the  imaginative  and  grossly  inaccurate  account  by 
Le  Roux  de  Lincy  in  his  Femmes  CeVebres. 

3  Whether  there  is  any  real  authority  for  this  title,  is  uncertain.  It  may 
merely  be  based  on  the  fact  that  in  the  key  to  a  secret  code  used  by  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  in  his  intercourse  with  one  of  his  secret  agents,  she  is 
signified  by  this  pseudonym. 


46  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

history.  Her  kinswomen  in  whose  company  she  finds 
herself  to-day,  are  stronger  figures,  with  a  wider  and  more 
important  sphere  in  hfe.  They  move  in  politics,  she  was 
merely   the   martyr  to    callous  policy, 

"Et  ceci  n'est  pas  autre  chose 
Que  I'histoire  d'un  pauvre  enfant." 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA 


DAUGHTER  OF  JAMES  VI.   AND   I. 


ELIZABETH     OF     BOHEMIA. 


To  face  p.  49. 


II 

ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA,   DAUGHTER   OF  JAMES  VI.   AND  I. 

As  a  link  in  the  Genealogy  which  connects  the  House 
of  Hanover  with  the  House  of  Stuart,  the  name  of  Elizabeth, 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  is  not  unfamiHar  to  her  countrymen. 
Slightly  less  adventitious  and  more  personal  is  the  additional 
fame  which  still  clings  to  this  daughter  of  King  James  I., 
as  "The  Mistress"  to  whom  was  dedicated  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  lyrics  in  the  English  language.  For  it  was 
the  sight  of  Elizabeth  in  1620,  during  her  one  year's  reign 
in  Bohemia,  that  inspired  Sir  Henry  Wotton  to  give  voice 
to  his  admiration  in  the  following  well-known  verses  : 


"You  meaner  Beauties  of  the  Night 
That  poorly  satisfie  our  Eies 
More  by  your  number  than  your  light; 
You  Common  people  of  the  Skies, 
What  are  you  when  the  Sun  shall  rise? 

"You  Curious  Chanters  of  the  Wood, 
That  warble  forth  Dame  Nature's  layes. 
Thinking  your  Voyces  understood 
By  your  weake  accents;  what's  your  praise 
When  Philomell  her  voyce  shal  raise? 

"You  Violets,  that  first  apeare. 
By  your  pure  purpel  mantels  knowne. 
Like  the  proud  Virgins  of  the  yeare. 
As  if  the  Spring  were  all  your  own ; 
What  are  you  when  the  Rose  is  blowne? 


52  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

and  had  for  the  time  relinquished  her  intrigues  with  the 
Scottish  malcontents? 

For  seven  years  the  child  grew  up  in  the  Palace  of 
Linlithgow,  under  the  care  of  Lord  and  Lady  Livingston. 
Then,  in  1603,  came  the  good  news  that  Queen  EHzabeth 
was  at  length  dead.  James  was  summoned  to  fill  the  empty 
throne ;  and  preparations  were  at  once  begun  for  the  mi- 
gration of  the  royal  family  to  England.  Henceforth  the 
romance  of  Stuart  history  was  to  be  displayed  upon  a 
more  conspicuous  stage. 

The  journey  south  must  have  been  a  strange  experience 
for  the  little  Elizabeth.  Some  portions  of  the  route  were 
traversed  in  the  company  of  her  festive  mother.  But  it 
was  for  the  most  part  in  solitary  grandeur  that  the  seven 
year  old  Princess,  followed  by  her  own  train  of  attendants, 
lumbered  slowly  along  the  dreary  Great  North  Road.  Edin- 
burgh was  left  behind  on  June  3rd.  At  Berwick  there 
occurred  a  sad  parting  with  Lady  Livingston.  "  Oh  Ma- 
dam!" EHzabeth  is  said  to  have  sobbed  to  the  Queen, 
**  nothing  can  ever  make  me  forget  one  I  so  tenderly 
loved."  ^  However,  regret  at  leaving  her  Scottish  friend 
and  her  Scottish  nursery  doubtless  soon  gave  way  to  a 
wondering  interest  at  the  attentions  and  the  crowding  curio- 
sity of  her  father's  new  subjects. 

After  a  month's  journey  EHzabeth  rejoined  her  parents 
and  her  elder  brother,  Prince  Henry,  at  Windsor.  There 
was  a  pleasing  homeliness  about  the  family  life  of  the  first 
Stuart  King  of  Great  Britain.  James  and  his  wife,  Anne 
of  Denmark,  were  not  indeed  a  well-assorted  pair.  The 
King  himself,  could  have  but  Httle  in  common  with  his 
wife,  a  silly  woman,  absorbed  in  her  own  petty  jealousies 
and  frivolities.     In  his  uncouth  character  the  heavy  learning 

1   "Memoirs   of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,"  by  "One  of  her  Ladies,"  p.  43. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  53 

of  his  tutor  Buchanan  awkwardly  jostled  with  the  wit  and 
spirit  of  his  mother,  the  passionate  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 
But  James  was  naturally  warm-hearted;  and  was  glad  to 
humour  both  the  Queen  herself  and  their  children. 

An  excellent  insight  into  this  family  life  is  provided 
by  the  ''Memoirs"  of  Elizabeth's  girlhood,  which  were 
written  by  one  of  the  Princess's  Scottish  companions  in 
her  old  age.  ^  This  lady  gives  the  following  account  of 
Elizabeth's  reunion  with  James  at  Windsor. 

"  My  young  Mistress,  (she  was  then  but  seven  years  old) 
who  was  very  fond  of  her  Father,  expressed  her  joy  at 
seeing  him  again,  in  so  endearing  a  manner  as  gave  him 
great  pleasure;  after  giving  her  a  thousand  pretty  toys, 
he  shewed  her  the  Dauphin's  picture,  and  asked  her  how 
she  would  like  him  for  her  husband  1 

**She  made  him  no  answer,  but  coloured  and  ran  into 
the  next  room,  where  1  was  waiting  with  some  of  the 
Queen's  ladies.  She  whispered  to  me,  that  she  had  a  great 
secret  to  tell  me;  and  when  we  were  alone,  she  told  me 
what  the  King  had  said  to  her,  and  that  the  Dauphin's 
picture  was  the  prettiest  face  she  had  ever  seen,  but 
charged  me  not  to  tell  even  her  brother,  that  she  had 
said  so."  ^ 

We  see  James  again  in  a  good  humour  two  days  after 
the  family  reunion  at  Windsor.  Elizabeth  had  been  watch- 
ing from  a  recess  of  St.  George's  Hall  the  state  dinner 
which  followed  the  installation  of  Prince  Henry  as  a  Knight 
of  the  Garter,  and  after  the  dinner  she  had  joined  the  Queen, 
who  was  receiving  her  new  subjects.  Thereupon  James 
jovially  asked  Lord  Southampton  and  others  "  if  they 
did  not  think  his  Annie  looked  passing  well ;  and  my  little 
Bessy   too   (added   he,  taking  his  daughter  up  in  his  arms 

1  Vide  "Note"  on  the  "Memoirs"  at  end  of  chapter. 

2  Memoirs,  pp.  51 — 2. 


54  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

and  kissing  her)  is  not  an  ill-faured  wench,  and  may  outshine 
her  Mother  one  of  these  days."  ^ 

After  the  Princess  had  been  a  few  months  at  the  EngHsh 
Court,  the  *'camp  volant"  as  it  was  called  by  an  exhausted 
Secretary  of  State;  "  James  decided  that  her  health  could 
no  longer  stand  the  strain,  and  that  her  newly  appointed 
guardians,  Lord  and  Lady  Harington,  would  do  well  to 
educate  the  girl  in  the  seclusion  of  their  country  seat. 
Elizabeth  had  already  made  friends  in  England;  and  the 
parting  with  her  cousin  Arabella  Stuart  and  the  other  relatives 
at  court  was  sorrowful  enough  :  but  when  it  came  to  saying 
good-bye  to  Prince  Henry  *'  she  hung  about  his  neck,  crying 
and  repeating  a  hundred  times,  *  I  cannot  leave  my  Henry.*  "  ^ 

Henceforward  Elizabeth  was  established  at  Combe  Abbey 
near  Coventry,  and  with  her  were  several  daughters  of  Scottish 
and  English  nobles,  two  Percies,  a  Devereux  (daughter  of 
Queen  Elizabeth's  Earl  of  Essex),  a  Hume,  a  Bruce,  and  the 
writer  of  the  Memoirs — to  whom  we  owe  a  happy  picture 
of  their  life  in  this  peaceful  Warwickshire  home. 

The  Princess's  room  in  the  old  monastery  looked  out  over 
brilliant  flower-beds:  beyond  was  a  green  EngHsh  lawn, 
and  in  the  distance  an  artificial  river  that  disappeared 
among  the  neighbouring  woods.  **  Nothing  took  the  Prin- 
cess's fancy  so  much  as  a  little  wilderness  at  the  end  of 
the  Park,  on  the  banks  of  a  large  brook  which  ran  winding 
along,  and  formed  in  one  place  a  large  irregular  basin,  or 
rather  a  small  lake,  in  which  there  was  an  island  covered 
with  underwood  and  flowering  trees  and  plants,  so  well 
mixed  and  disposed  that  for  nine  months  in  the  year  they 
formed  a  continual  spring."  ^     This  place  the  Princess  took 

1  Memoirs,  pp.  56 — 7. 

2  Nichol's  'Progresses,'*  vol.  i.,  p.  272.  Cecil  to  Shrewsbury,  Sep.  17,  1603. 

*  Memoirs,  p.  107. 

*  Memoirs,  pp.  112 — 3. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  55 

for  her  own,  and  here  in  an  aviary,  the  back  and  roof  of 
which  were  formed  of  natural  rock,  she  collected  birds  of 
every  species  and  of  every  country.  In  the  wilderness  and 
wood  Lord  Harington  built  *4ittle  wooden  buildings  in  all 
the  different  orders  of  architecture;"  and  in  these  were 
scattered  paintings  of  divers  races,  and  stuffed  skins  of  all 
sorts  of  animals,  *'so  that  this  was  a  kind  of  world  in 
miniature.  Adjoining  the  wood  were  some  meadows,  which 
were  afterwards  added  to  what  the  Princess  called  'her 
Territories',  and  this,  'her  Fairy-farm',  from  its  being 
stocked  with  the  smallest  kind  of  cattle  from  the  isles  of 
Jersey,  Shetland  and  Man."  ^ 

If  the  park  of  Combe  Abbey  was  the  right  place  to  give 
Elizabeth  health  of  body,  its  owner  was  certainly  the  man 
to  develop  her  health  of  mind.  James  had  shown  true 
wisdom  in  raising  Harington  to  the  peerage  on  his  acces- 
sion, and  in  then  entrusting  to  him  the  up-bringing  of  his 
daughter.  A  man  of  science  and  a  man  of  religion,  withal 
a  courtier  and  a  sportsman,  Harington  was  no  unworthy 
contemporary  of  F^rancis  Bacon.  His  interest  in  every 
sphere  of  knowledge  gave  him  a  breadth  of  view  which 
prevented  him  from  belonging  to  either  the  school  of  thought 
which  culminated  in  Cromwell,  or  that  which  culminated 
in  Laud.  And  it  was  to  Harington  that  Elizabeth  owed  the 
stock  of  philosophy  and  religion  that  carried  her  through  life. 

It  was  one  of  James's  maxims  "  That  even  a  man  who 
was  vain  and  foolish,  was  made  more  so  by  learning,  and 
as  for  women,  who,  he  said,  were  all  naturally  addicted 
to  vanity,  where  it  did  one  good  it  did  harm  to  twenty; 
he  therefore  charged  Lord  Harington  not  to  attempt  to 
make  the  princess  a  Latin  or  Greek  scholar  (as  had  been 
usual  for  women,  especially  those  of  high  birth,  in  the  pre- 

*  Memoirs,  pp.  121 — 124. 


56  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

ceding  age),  but  to  endeavour  to  make  her  truly  wise  by 
instructing  her  thoroughly  in  religion,  and  by  giving  her 
a  general  idea  of  history. "  * 

The  king's  intructions  were  sensibly  carried  out  by  Har- 
ington.  ** Religion"  was  expounded  at  short  morning 
and  evening  prayers;  and  special  resident  masters  equip- 
ped the  princess  with  the  ordinary  ''polite  accomplish- 
ments" of  a  young  lady;  but  the  bulk  of  the  instruction 
was  imparted  informally  and  without  being  obtrusively 
labelled  work.  Thus  the  learning  of  history  and  geography 
became  a  game  in  which  pictured  cards  had  to  be  shuf 
fled  and  arranged.  Or  *'if  a  butterfly  or  glow-worm  took 
her  eye,  some  account  was  given  her  of  their  nature,  and 
of  the  wonderful  changes  most  of  them  go  through."^  The 
children  would  delight  to  look  at  these  insects  through  the 
newly  discovered  microscope,  or  at  the  stars  through  Lord 
Harington's  wonderful  telescope ;  and  at  such  times  their 
guardian  would  denounce  the  astrology  which  was  still  the 
fashionable  belief  of  the  age,  or  he  would  explain  to  them  the 
new  views  of  Copernicus.  Then  the  children  would  think 
he  was  laughing  at  them,  and  Harington  would  not  be 
satisfied  till  all  the  motions  of  the  earth  had  been  made  clear. 

At  other  times  the  birds  and  flowers  would  suggest  to 
Harington  moral  lessons ;  or  from  the  views  of  Copernicus 
he  would  branch  off  to  the  statements  of  the  Old  Testament, 
to  discuss  the  divine  purpose  in  the  gradual  revelation  of  the 
secrets  of  nature.  It  is  satisfactory  to  be  assured  that  the 
children  understood  what  their  guardian  had  to  tell  them, 
and  that  of  them  all,  Elizabeth — though  she  was  not  told 
so  at  the  time — proved  herself  the  quickest,  and  the  clever- 
est.^    These    were    happy    days   for   Elizabeth   at   Combe 

1  Memoirs,  p.  109. 

2  Memoirs,  p.  115. 

3  Memoirs,  pp.  116 — 119. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  57 

Abbey;  days  beginning  early  with  visits  to  her  ** Fairy- 
farm",  filled  with  an  abundance  of  exercise  in  the  fresh  air, 
as  the  Princess  played  on  her  territories,  tended  her  pets, 
or  adorned  her  grotto  with  moss  and  shells,  and  ending 
with  music  or  dancing.  Already  she  was  playing  the 
queen ;  for  her  court  she  had  her  six  companions,  while 
twice  a  week  the  children  of  the  neighbouring  families 
were  admitted  to  **her  drawing-rooms;"^  of  grooms  and 
ladies-in-waiting  there  was  a  large  train  at  the  Abbey ;  for 
her  subjects  there  were  the  farmers'  daughters  whom  she 
caused  to  be  dressed  as  shepherdesses,  and  a  pauper  family 
whom  she  had  established  on  her  territories  as  keepers  of 
her  beasts  and  birds.  Occasionally,  too,  she  had  her  state 
functions;  as  when  in  1604  she  paid  a  solemn  visit  to 
the  city  of  Coventry,  was  received  by  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen,  and  was  treated  to  a  sermon  and  a  dinner.' 
Clearly,  the  eight  year  old  Elizabeth  was  a  most  gracious 
Httle  queen,  everybody  petted  her,  and  she,  for  her  part, 
was  fond  of  everybody. 

But  already  she  had  to  learn,  that  in  playing  the  part 
of  a  Queen  there  are  material  difficulties.  The  writer  of 
her  childhood's  biography  tells  a  story  which  shows  that 
she  was  the  same  over-generous,  extravagant  creature  from 
the  first,  which  she  remained  to  the  last  years  of  her  life. 
"For  a  great  while  she  spent  her  money  long  before  the 
next  quarter  was  due — nay,  sometimes  before  the  first  week 
was  out.  Once  in  particular,  I  remember  she  laid  it  all 
out  within  three  days  after  it  was  paid  in,  in  a  heap  of 
trinkets  which  she  had  divided  amongst  us,  but  chiefly 
between  Lady  Lucy  Percy  and  myself.  Lord  Harington 
who  had  observed  it  in  silence,  purposely  brought  to  her 
some  curiosities,  that  were  to  be  sold,  one  morning  that  some 

1  Memoirs,  p.  161. 

2  Nichol's  "  Progresses  of  James  I.,"  vol.  i.,  p.  429. 


58  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

young  ladies  of  the  country  were  to  be  presented  to  her,  to 
whom,  he  told  her,  it  would  be  proper  she  should  make 
a  present  of  some  of  those  rarities ;  and  to  make  her  dis- 
tress the  greater,  presented  her  a  moving  petition  of  a 
decayed  gentleman's  family;  this  obliged  her  to  own  her 
money  was  all  gone."  ^  She  begged  her  guardian  to 
advance  the  money  out  of  her  next  quarter's  allowance. 
He  replied  by  warning  her  against  the  practice  of  ever 
anticipating  her  income,  and  promised  to  assist  the  dis- 
tressed family  himself.  "  This  was  a  little  mortification  to 
the  Princess:  Lady  Lucy  Percy  and  I  asked  her  leave  to 
return  what  she  had  so  lavishly  given  us  that  she  might 
bestow  them  on  the  strangers;  this  she  refused  with  some 
scorn,  telling  us,  she  never  took  back  what  she  had 
given ;  but  recollecting  that  our  offer  proceeded  from  affec- 
tion, she  burst  out  a-crying,  and  said,  she  would  accept 
of  any  thing  from  such  friends,  but  that  those  baubles 
would  be  despised  by  those  who  did  not  know  and  love 
her,  and  that  if  Lady  Harington  would  let  her,  she  had 
rather  give  some  of  her  jewels."  ^ 

The  peaceful  round  of  Elizabeth's  country  life  was  broken 
in  the  November  of  1605  by  the  alarm  of  the  Gunpowder 
Plot.  Combe  Abbey  was  in  the  centre  of  the  conspirators' 
country ;  and  they  had  planned  to  capture  her  and  declare 
her  Queen  in  her  father's  stead.  It  is  an  oft-told  tale,  how 
Sir  Everard  Digby  invited  the  Catholic  gentlemen  of  the 
neighbourhood  to  a  meet  at  Dunchurch  ;  how  this  party  was 
to  have  hunted  no  smaller  game  than  the  Princess  herself ; 
and  how  Lord  Harington  received  warning  of  the  plot 
only  just  in  time  to  place  her  in  safety  at  Coventry.  We 
have   the   latter's   own   account  of  the   episode  in  a  letter 

1  Memoirs,  pp.  123 — 6. 

2  Memoirs,  127. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  59 

addressed  to  his  cousin:  **Our  great  care  and  honourable 
charge  entrusted  to  us  by  the  King's  Majesty,  hath  been 
matter  of  so  much  concern,  that  it  almost  effaced  the  atten- 
tion to  kyn  or  friend.  With  God's  assistance  we  hope  to 
do  our  Lady  Elizabeth  such  services  as  is  due  to  her  prince- 
ly endowments  and  natural  abilities;  both  which  appear 
the  sweet  dawning  of  future  comfort  to  her  Royal  Father. 
The  late  divilish  Conspiracy  did  much  disturb  this  part... 
I  went  with  Sir  Fulk  Greville  to  alarm  the  neighbourhood 
and  surprize  the  villains,  who  came  to  Holbach;  was  out 
five  days  in  peril  of  death,  in  fear  for  the  great  charge 
I  left  at  home.  Her  Highness  doth  often  say,  'What  a 
queen  should  I  have  been  by  this  means  1  I  had  rather 
have  been  with  my  Royal  Father  in  the  Parliament  House 
than  wear  his  Crown  on  such  condition.'  This  poor  Lady  hath 
not  yet  recovered  the  surprize,  and  is  very  ill  and  troubled."  * 
About  the  Christmas  of  1608,  after  five  happy  years  at 
Combe  Abbey,  Elizabeth  returned  to  Whitehall,  and  was 
given  an  establishment  of  her  own  at  court.  According 
to  modern  ideas,  it  was  a  ridiculously  early  coming  out. 
But  the  children  of  those  times,  when  they  left  the  nursery, 
were  made  to  talk  and  behave,  just  as  they  were  made  to 
dress,  like  elderly  gentlemen  and  elderly  ladies.  The 
twelve  year  old  Elizabeth  was  probably  as  staid  as  she 
was  ever  destined  to  become ;  nor  was  she  lacking  in  self- 
assurance.  The  first  impressions  of  the  French  Ambassador 
were  very  favourable :  she  is  **  full  of  virtue  and  merit, 
handsome,  engaging,  very  well  bred,  and  speaks  French 
exceedingly  well,  much  better  than  her  brother."  -  But 
although  the  Cock-pit  of  Whitehall  was  assigned  to  Elizabeth 


^  Lord  Harington  to  Sir  James  Harington:  Nichol's  "Progresses,"  vol.  i., 
pp.  890 — 2. 

2  La  Boderie's  Report.  Raumer.  "History  of  the  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Centuries,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  227. 


6o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

and  she  was  given  a  regular  establishment  of  her  own,  the 
change  was  not  far-reaching.  Lord  and  Lady  Harington 
were  still  kept  by  her  side  to  manage  her  affairs,  and  she 
passed  most  of  her  time  in  the  country  at  Hampton  Court 
or  at  Kew,  where  she  had  leisure  to  continue  her  lessons 
in  music,  French,  and  Italian. 

And  it  was  well  for  her  that  she  was  still  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Lord  Harington  in  her  new  surroundings.  It  was 
well,  not  because  the  Court  at  this  time  was  especially  disso- 
lute; for  the  ill  repute  which  clings  to  the  Court  of  James  I. 
in  so  far  as  it  is  not  the  mere  invention  of  a  later  age,  is 
traceable  to  the  causes  celebres  which  distinguished  the  latter 
half  of  the  reign.  The  old-fashioned  view  which  regarded 
the  accession  of  James  as  initiating  the  decline  of  morality 
is  thoroughly  misleading.  These  early  years  of  the  17th 
century  are  rather  the  flowering  season  of  the  Elizabethan 
age — both  of  what  was  ill  and  of  what  was  admirable  in 
that  many-sided  epoch.  Freed  from  all  wars  or  dangers 
from  abroad,  undisturbed  as  yet  by  serious  trouble  at 
home,  England,  growing  every  year  richer  in  material 
wealth,  and  in  literature,  was  now,  if  ever,  genuinely 
"merry."  All  classes  were  turning  to  enjoy  themselves 
as  whole-heartedly  as  they  had  previously  set  themselves 
to  fight  the  Spaniard.  Nor  was  there  ever  a  jollier  pedant 
than  the  King  himself.  Royally  "Hberall  of  what  he  had 
not  in  his  own  gripe",  ^  too  lazy  ever  to  say  his  friends 
''Nay,"  James  always  loved  to  see  those  around  him  happy. 
At  court  the  amusements  though  harmless,  were  not  for 
the  most  part  of  a  high  order.  Following  the  example  of 
the  silly  Queen,  the  order  of  the  day  was  for  "foolery" 
and  extravagance.  This  then,  is  the  reason  for  which  it 
was  well  for  the  young  Elizabeth  that  she  continued  under 

*  Secret  History  of  the  Court  of  King  James  I.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  7. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  6i 

Harington's  guardianship  :  it  probably  saved  her — giddy  and 
impressionable  as  she  was  by  nature  —from  becoming  as 
wholly  frivolous  as  her  empty-headed  mother. 

The  strong  influence  which  the  teaching  of  Harington 
exercised  over  the  mind  of  Elizabeth,  is  apparent  in  some 
childish  verses  which  were  written  by  her  soon  after  her 
first  taste  of  the  life  at  court.  A  few  stanzas  are  sufficient 
to  show  the  tenour  of  the  whole  poem : 


"This  is  joy,  this  is  true  pleasure, 
If  we  best  things  make  our  treasure 
And  enjoy  them  at  full  leisure, 
Evermore  in  richest  measure. 

II 

God  is  only  excellent, 
Let  up  to  him  our  love  be  sent; 
Whose  desires  are  set  or  bent 
On  aught  else  shall  much  repent. 

m 

Why  should  vain  joys  us  transport? 
Earthly  pleasures  are  but  short— 
And  are  mingled  in  such  sort, 
Griefs  are  greater  than  the  sport. 


IX 

And  regard  of  this  yet  have 
Nothing  can  from  death  us  save. 
Then  we  must  into  our  grave, 
When  we  most  are  pleasure's  _slave. 


By  long  use  our  soules  will  cleave 
To  the  earth:  then  it  we  leave; 
Then  will  cruell  death  bereave, 
All  the  joyes  that  we  receive. 


62  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

XI 

Thence  they  goe  to  helHsh  flame, 
Ever  tortur'd  in  the  same, 
With  perpetuall  blott  of  name : 
Flowt,  reproach,  and  endless  shame." 

After  describing  in  a  similar  fashion  the  ease  and  plea- 
sures of  heaven,  the  Princess  continues: 

XVII 

"Are  these  things  indeed  even  soe? 
Doe  I  certainly  them  know, 
And  am  I  so  much  my  foe, 
To  remayne  yett  dull  and  slowe? 

XXII 

That  I  hereon  meditate, 
That  desire,  I  finde  (though  late) 
To  prize  heaven  at  higher  rate. 
And  these  pleasures  vayne  to  hate. 

XXIV 

Since  in  me  such  thoughts  are  scant 
Of  thy  grace  repayre  my  want. 
Often  meditations  grant. 
And  in  me  more  deeply  plant."  ^ 

If  these  verses  show  how  carefully  Lord  Harington  had 
instilled  into  his  pupil's  mind  serious  ideas  on  life,  they 
none  the  less  reveal  that  natural  inclination  for  dissipation 

1  Harington,  Nugse  Antiquae,  vol.  iii.,  p.  303. 

Mrs.  Everett-Green  has  suggested  that  the  verses  were  written  "under  the 
chastening  influence  of  Elizabeth's  first  great  sorrow,"  the  death  of  Prince 
Henry.  The  suggestion,  however,  seems  scarcely  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
actual  words  of  the  poem,  and  is  altogether  at  variance  with  the  endorsement 
which  runs  as  follows : —  "  This  was  written  by  Elizabeth,  d.  of  K.  J.,  1609, 
and  given  to  Lord  Harington  of  Exton,  her  Tutor." 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  63 

and  the  "earthly  pleasures"  which  was  to  increase  as  she 
grew  older.  It  was  no  wonder  that  she  should  find  the 
amusements  of  the  court  fascinating.  She  would  be  able 
to  appreciate  those  games  of  the  Queen  and  her  ladies, 
which  made  the  more  serious  and  elderly  Arabella  Stuart 
complain  that  she  was  expected  to  **  play  the  child."  ^ 
The  varied  diversions  of  the  court  would  seem  to  the  young 
Princess  always  fresh  and  exciting — the  new  shops  in  the 
Strand,  the  bear-baitings  at  the  Tower,  the  receptions  of 
foreign  ambassadors  and  the  other  state  functions  of  every 
description.  ^  But  more  than  all  she  would  probably  enjoy 
the  gorgeous,  fantastic  Masques,  those  marvellous  entertain- 
ments, half  pantomime,  half  opera,  to  the  contrivance  of 
which  the  great  men  of  the  age  devoted  so  much  of  their 
intellect,  and  in  the  production  of  which  the  courtiers 
consumed  such  quantities  of  their  time.' 

The  Christmas  of  1609  was  celebrated  by  a  great  tour- 
nament. Here  Prince  Henry  who  had  challenged  the  young 
nobles,  proved  his  manhood  by  breaking  several  pikes 
against  them.  Elizabeth  herself  had  been  chosen  as  "  Queen 
of  the  Barriers"  by  her  brother.  It  was  an  entertainment 
typical  of  the  times.  When  the  jousting  was  ended,  a 
performer  dressed  as  Merlin  stepped  forward,  and,  inspired 
by  Ben  Jonson,  thus  addressed  King  James : — 

"You  and  your  other  you,  Great  King  and  Queen,  , 

Have  yet  the  least  of  your  bright  fortune  seen, 
Which  shall  rise  brighter  every  hour  with  time, 
And  in  your  pleasure  quite  forget  the  crime 
Of  change ;  your  age's  night  shall  be  her  noon : 
And  this  young  Knight  '*  that  now  puts  forth  so  soon 

1  Inderwick,  "Sidelights  on  the  Stuarts,"  p.  87. 

2  Elizabeth  constantly  attended  these  functions,  vide  Nichol's  "  Progi  esses," 
vol,  ii.,  passim. 

3  For  an  admirable  short  account  of  the  Masques  of  the  period  vide 
Masson's  "Life  of  Milton,"  (Ed.  1881),  vol.  i.,  p.  578. 

*  Prince  Henry. 


64  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Into  the  World  shall  in  your  names  achieve 

More  garlands  for  this  State,  and  shall  relieve 

Your  cares  in  government ;  while  that  young  Lord  ^ 

Shall  second  him  in  arms,  and  shake  a  sword 

And  lance  against  the  foes  of  God  and  you. 

Nor  shall  less  joy  your  Royal  hopes  pursue 

In  that  most  Princely  maid  ^  whose  form  might  call 

The  world  of  war,  to  make  it  hazard  all 

His  valour  for  her  beauty;  she  shall  be 

Mother  of  Nations,  and  her  Princes  see 

Rivals  almost  to  these."  ^ 


It  is  a  strange  jumble — this  prophecy  of  Jonson—  in 
which  hidden  truth  consorts  with  fiction. 

The  festivities  were  carried  on  up  to  the  following  night 
when  Elizabeth  gave  away  the  prizes ;  after  which  function, 
though  the  King  himself  went  off  to  bed,  and  it  was  past 
midnight,  the  young  Prince  and  Princess  stopped  up  for  a 
two  hours'  comedy;  nor  even  then  would  they  retire  until 
Henry  had  twice  taken  his  sister  round  the  long  table, 
laden  with  the  supper  which  he  had  prepared  for  the 
nobles,  and  had  shown  her  the  windmills  and  dryads  and 
planetary  systems,  that  adorned  the  board,  all  wonderfully 
fashioned  in  sweetmeat. 

Six  months  later  the  creation  of  Henry  as  Prince  of  Wales 
was  celebrated  with  yet  greater  festivities.  There  was  a 
Masque,  called  ''Tethy's  Festival,"  in  which  Elizabeth  took 
part  as  the  "Nymph  of  the  Thames."  Her  dress  was  of 
sky-coloured  taffetas  with  the  "  long  skirt  wrought  with 
lace,  waved  round  about  like  a  river;  while  from  a  great 
mother-of-pearl  shell  on  her  head  hung  a  thin,  waiving 
vaile."* 


1  Prince  Charles. 

2  Princess  Elizabeth. 

3  Nichol's  'Progresses,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  281 
*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  354. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  65 

We  see  from  one  of  her  letters  to  Henry  that  this 
** weighty  affair"  had  been  occupying  her  mind  for  some 
time.     She  writes: — 

"Monsieur  mon  frere,  Mes  lettres  vous  suivent  par  tout. 
Je  desirerois  qu'elles  vous  fassent  aussi  aggreables  que 
frequentes.  Je  sgay  bien  qu'elles  ne  contiennent  aucun 
subjet  d'importance  qui  les  puisse  rendre  recommendables, 
si  ce  n'est  que  V[otre]  A[ltesse]  me  permette  de  vous  dire 
que  le  temps  d'estudier  le  balet  s'approche.  Puis  done  que 
c'est  un  affaire  de  poids  qui  semble  requerir  votre  presence 
prompte?  Je  supplieray  V.  A.  de  vous  disposer  a  quitter 
bien  tost  les  campagnes  de  ce  pais  la,  pour  visiter, 

"Monsieur  mon  frere,  Votre  soer  tres  affectionne  et 
servante  tres  humble, 

"Elizabeth."^ 

The  friendship  between  Elizabeth  and  her  brother  is  the 
most  striking  feature  of  these  years.  The  reality  of  their 
affection  is  not  indeed  to  be  discerned  in  the  polite  and 
stilted  declarations  of  their  correspondence,  much  of  which 
— together  with  their  early  letters  to  their  parents— seems 
in  its  beautiful  copy-book  writing  to  Ijave  been  merely  a 
form  of  educational  exercise.  But  even  amid  this  formality 
there  are  occasional  passages  which  reveal  the  actual  rela- 
tions between  the  correspondents ;  for  instance,  in  one  letter 
Elizabeth  playfully  begins  to  quote  Italian:  "Je  vous  en 
envoye  mille  graces  et  vous  dis  brivement  que  je  sens  un 
extreme  contentement  de  votre  retour  por  dega,  et  cosa  e 
bella  e  finita,  si  vous  n'entendez  mon  Italien  je  vous  en 
donnerai  I'interpretation  a  notre  prochaine  rencontre,  en 
centre  echange  de  celle  que  me  promettez  de  votre  latin."  ' 

It  was  natural  that  Elizabeth   should  have  been  devoted 

1  Harl.  MS.  6986,  f.  117. 

»  Elizabeth  to  Prince  Henry,  1610,  Harl.  MS.  6986,  f.  117. 


66  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

to  her  brother,  for  his  was  a  most  attractive  personality. 
Bacon  has  left  us  his  impressions  of  the  boy.  "In  body," 
he  says,  *'he  was  strong  and  erect,  of  middle  height,  his 
limbs  gracefully  put  together,  his  gait  kingHke,  his  face  long 
and  somewhat  lean, ...  in  countenance  resembling  his  sister 
as   far   as   a   man's  face   can    be  compared  with  that  of  a 

very  beautiful  girl His  forehead  bore  marks  of  severity, 

his  mouth  had  a  touch  of  pride ;  and  yet  when  one  pene- 
trated beyond  these  outworks,  and  soothed  him  with  due 
attention  and  reasonable  discourse,  one  found  him  gentle 
and  easy  to  deal  with."  ^ 

At  the  present  day  we  cannot  "penetrate  beyond  those 
outworks"  better  than  by  quoting  the  following  character- 
istic letter  which  he  wrote  in  1609  to  "his  dear  freind  Sir 
John  Harington,"  the  only  son  of  Elizabeth's  guardian: — 
"My  Good  Fellow — I  have  here  sent  you  certaine  matters 
of  anciente  sorte,  which  I  have  gained  by  searche  in  a 
musty  vellome  booke  in  my  Father's  closet,  and  as  it 
hathe  great  mentione  of  youre  ancestry,  I  hope  it  will  not 
meet  your  displeasure.  It  gave  me  some  paines  to  reade, 
and  some  to  write  also,  but  I  have  a  pleasure  in  over- 
reaching difficult  matters.  When  I  see  you  (and  let  that 
be  shortlie)  you  will  find  me  your  better  at  Tennis  and 
Pike.  Good  Fellow,  I  write  your  friend  Henry.  Your 
Latin  Epistle  I  much  esteem  and  will  at  leisure  give 
answer  to."  ^ 

There  was  no  doubt  of  Henry's  pride.  Perhaps  there 
was  a  danger  of  this  young  prince— with  his  fines  for 
those  attendants  whom  he  caught  using  bad  language — 
allowing  his  pride  to  become  priggishness.  But  his  character 
was  redeemed  by  its  high  purpose.  Fired  by  Raleigh's 
History  of  the  World,  the  boy  had  resolved  that  he  would 

1  Bacon's  Works  (Spedding's  Edition),  vol.  vi.,  pp.  327 — 8. 

2  Nugae  Antiquoe,  vol.  iii.,  p.  305. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  67 

one  day  be  himself  a  great  king;  and  already  he  was 
laboriously  training  himself  for  the  task.  It  was  with  this 
idea  that  he  would,  four  or  five  times  a  day,  don  his 
armour,  and  practise  with  the  sword  or  pike,  or,  making 
friends  with  Phineas  Pett  the  master-builder,  would  super- 
intend the  construction  of  the  new  ships  for  the  much 
neglected  navy.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  seriousness  of 
purpose,  his  energy  was  constantly  overflowing  in  channels 
more  natural  to  boyhood.  "  His  other  exercises,"  writes 
the  Prince's  Tutor,  *'  were  dancing,  leaping,  and  in  times  of 
year  fit  for  it,  learning  to  swimme,  at  sometimes  walking 
fast  and  farre,  to  accustome  and  enable  himself  to  make 
a  long  march  when  time  should  require  it ;  but  most  of  all 
at  Tennis  play,  wherein,  to  speake  the  truth,  which  in  all 
things  I  especially  affect,  he  neither  observed  moderation 
nor  what  appertained  to  his  dignity  and  person,  continuing 
oft  times  his  play  for  the  space  of  three  or  four  hours, 
and  the  same  in  his  shirt,  rather  becoming  an  artisan  than 
a  Prince."  ^ 

It  was  through  her  love  of  sport  that  Elizabeth  could  most 
naturally  share  her  brother's  interests.  Still,  as  at  Combe 
Abbey,  she  had  about  her  her  dogs  and  monkeys  and  par- 
rots. Sir  John  Harington  the  elder — "the  merry  blade" 
of  the  court — tells  us  that  his  dog  **Bungey",  so  famous 
for  its  "good  deeds  and  strange  feats,"  "did  often  bear 
the  sweet  words"  of  the  Princess  "on  his  neck."^  The 
brother  and  sister  would  often  give  each  other  presents 
of  horses.  Elizabeth  had  now  begun  hunting  in  the 
King's  deer  forests ;  and  the  Prince  so  often  called  for  her 
to   ride   with  him   that   poor  Lord  Harington,  who  had  to 


^  "Life  of  Prince  Henry"  by  Cornwallis,  Somer's  Tracts,  vol.  ii.,  p.  221 ; 
also  "Life"  by  Birch,  and  "Letters  to  King  James  the  Sixth,"  printed  by  the 
Maitland  Club,  1835. 

3  Nichol's  "Progresses,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  197. 


68  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

attend  her,  was  frequently  fain  to  apologise  for  failing  to 
discharge  his  other  duties.  ^  Scarcely  a  day  passed  with- 
out the  two  children  seeing  each  other,  either  by  visiting 
each  other's  palaces,  or  by  boating  on  the  Thames,  or 
going  down  to  Gravesend  together  to  see  Henry's  "great 
ship"  on  the  stocks,  and  to  be  entertained  by  Mrs.  Pett. 
Henry,  however,  had  no  intention  of  spoiling  the  Princess 
as  others  were  doing;  he  would  sometimes  tease  her,  or 
frighten  her  with  ghost  stories  before  she  went  to  bed;^ 
but  it  was  doubtless  for  her  own  good,  for  on  one  point 
all  contemporaries  were  agreed,  that  though  he  was  obedient 
to  his  parents,  and  though  fond  of  **  Baby  Charles ",  his 
weak  little  brother,  he  nevertheless  "did  extraordinarily 
affect  his  sister  and  loved  her  above  all  others."^ 

When  the  Lady  Elizabeth  had  been  some  two  or  three 
years  at  court,  all  Europe  began  anxiously  to  busy  itself 
in  providing  her  with  a  husband.  It  was  a  complicated 
subject,  and  revived  the  questions  of  foreign  poHcy  which 
had  puzzled  Englishmen  in  the  preceding  reign.  Should 
England  definitely  assume  the  leadership  of  Protestant 
Europe  ?  or  should  she  maintain  her  position  on  the  conti- 
nent by  an  attitude  of  balance,  of  mediation?  In  favour 
of  the  former  policy  was  the  great  majority  of  the  nation 
— those  of  every  class  to  whom  hatred  for  Spain  was  the 
first  and  great  commandment.  As  upholders  of  the  latter 
policy  there  were  but  a  few  Politiques,  though  they  were 
chiefly  found  amongst  those  in  high  places.  James  himself, 
however,  was  a  waverer,  drawn  one  way  by  his  strong 
Protestantism,    and    in   the  opposite    direction   by   his   own 


1  Cal.  Dom.  1609,  Oct.  25. 

2  Miss  Strickland's  "Queens  of  Scotland."  p.  3 1 ;  Miss  Strickland  quotes  no 
authority  except  tlie  "  traditions  of  Ham  Palace." 

'  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Nov.  12,  1612,  "Court  and  Times  of  James  I." 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  69 

shrewdness  and  freedom  from  popular  prejudices.  For  long 
he  was  possessed  with  the  noble  idea  of  healing  the  religious 
dissensions  in  Europe  by  mating  at  least  one  of  his  children 
to  a  Catholic ;  and  so  when  the  chance  of  a  French  marriage 
for  Elizabeth  was  removed  in  1610  by  the  assassination  of 
Henry  IV.,  James  for  a  time  seriously  considered  the  idea  of 
a  marriage  with  a  Prince  of  Savoy,  or  one  of  the  Medici,  or 
even  Philip  III.  of  Spain  himself.  ^  But  he  gradually  learnt 
— and  he  ought  to  have  remembered  it  in  his  old  age 
when  he  wanted  to  marry  Charles  to  the  Infanta — that 
honest  toleration  was  impossible  to  Romanists.  Accord- 
ingly, nothing  remained  for  him  but  to  secure  the  best 
Protestant  aUiance  that  offered. 

There  was  no  danger  of  any  want  of  offers.  Elizabeth 
would  have  secured  these,  even  had  she  not  been  the  only 
daughter  of  the  greatest  Protestant  monarch.  In  features 
she  was  handsome  without  being  remarkable;  her  long 
oval  face  was  crowned  with  rich  dark  hair ;  her  nose,  which 
resembled  her  father's,  was  somewhat  big  and  aquiline ;  but 
her  eyes  were  large,  and  her  mouth  sympathetic. "  Alto- 
gether with  her  abounding  health,  her  graceful  figure  and 
her  pretty  impetuosity  of  manner,  she  may  well  have  been 
— as  in  fact  all  contemporaries  were  agreed  she  was — a 
thoroughly  attractive  creature. 

Most  of  the  Protestant  suitors  who  dreamt  of  winning 
the  Lady  Elizabeth's  hand  were  clearly  of  insufficient  rank — 
two  aspiring  Howards ;  Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  and  some 
smaller  German  Princelets.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  heir 
of  Sweden  and  already  a  youth  of  promise,  might  probably 
have  been  accepted,  had  not  his  father  been  at  war  with 
James's  brother-in-law,   the   King  of  Denmark.     And  so  it 

1  Gardiner,  Hist,  of  England.  (Ed.  1883),  vol.  ii.,  pp.  23,  136 — 141 ; 
Hist.  MS.  Com.,  Xth  Report,  p.  557. 

'  Cf.  Miss.  Strickland,  "Queens  of  Scotland,"  vol.  viii.,  p.  iii. 


70  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

was  largely  by  a  process  of  exhaustion  that  the  suitor  who 
was  finally  chosen  was  the  Prince  who  had  been  born  three 
days  before  Elizabeth.  Although  not  of  royal  blood,  his 
political  status  was  considerable.  Having  succeeded  his 
father  in  1610,  he  had  become  Frederic  the  Fifth,  Elector 
Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  and — what  was  more — the  head  01 
the  German  Union  of  Protestant  Princes.  James  might  there- 
fore reckon  on  the  marriage  being  thoroughly  popular  with 
his  Protestant  Parliament,  and  might  reasonably  hope  for  a 
substantial  expression  of  gratitude  to  fill  his  empty  treasury. 

To  Frederic's  guardians,  on  the  other  hand,  the  alliance 
which  promised  strength  and  prestige  to  the  Palatine  family 
and  to  the  Protestant  Union  was  a  splendid  prize.  They 
had  only  one  fear,  that  Elizabeth  '*by  reason  of  her  great 
birth,  would  introduce  customs  of  her  own  education,  of 
too  high  a  flight  for  their  usance  to  permit."  ^  Their 
apprehensions,  however,  were  soothed:  it  was  agreed  that 
Elizabeth's  followers  should  be  restricted  to  36  men  and 
13  women;  and  James  promised,  in  addition  to  a  dowry  of 
=£40,000,  a  liberal  yearly  allowance. 

By  the  summer  of  161 2  everything  had  been  arranged, 
and  EHzabeth  was  promised  to  the  young  Elector.  They 
were  most  suitably  matched.  Frederic,  like  Elizabeth,  had 
been  brought  up  apart  from  the  influences  of  a  large  court. 
At  Sedan,  under  his  uncle  the  Due  de  Bouillon,  he  had 
received  a  sound  Protestant  education.  If  he  had  been 
nourished  on  larger  doses  of  Latin  and  a  stricter  Calvinism 
than  Elizabeth,  he  had  not  the  less  developed  a  healthy 
capacity  for  enjoying  the  sports  and  pageants,  and  the  good 
things  of  this  earth.  At  present  Frederic's  Sedan  educa- 
tion seemed  merely  to  have  resulted  in  the  production  of 
a  somewhat  heavily  cultured,  well-mannered  young  Prince. 

1  Edmondes  to  Salisbury,  Sep.  20,  161 1,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol. 
v.,  p.  182. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  71 

Later  years  were  to  reveal  to  the  full,  the  disastrous  effect 
on  his  weak  will  of  the  influence  of  Henry  de  la  Tour 
d'Auvergne,  Due  de  Bouillon,  the  chief  of  adventurers,  the 
exploiter  of  his  fellow  Huguenots,  the  disturber  of  three 
French  reigns,  the  man  who,  with  all  his  military  and 
diplomatic  ability,  with  all  his  Calvinism  and  all  his  culture, 
spent  his  life  in  playing  with  intrigues  and  rebellion. 

But  for  the  present  there  was  small  fear  of  future 
troubles.  Frederic  utihsed  the  months  which  had  to  elapse 
before  he  could  appear  at  the  English  court,  in  perfect- 
ing his  dancing  and  deportment.  At  intervals  he  wrote 
elegant  nothings  in  French  to  Elizabeth  and  his  future 
relatives,  to  which  the  latter  replied  in  letters  equally  ele- 
gant and  equally  empty. 

The  Princess  was  pleased  with  the  match,  chiefly  because 
it  delighted  her  brother  with  his  vigorous  hatred  of  Spain. 
The  story  ran  that  when  Queen  Anne,  disappointed  that  her 
daughter  was  not  to  marry  a  king,  jeeringly  called  her 
"  Goodwife  Palsgrave",  Elizabeth  declared  in  spirited  fashion : 
"  I  would  rather  espouse  a  Protestant  Count  than  a  Catholic 
Emperor." 

The  Elector  was  expected  to  reach  England  early  in 
the  autumn  of  16 12.  The  late  summer  found  James,  as 
usual,  making  a  progress  through  the  country,  securing 
his  hunting  and  entertainment  at  the  expense  of  his  loyal 
subjects.  The  progress  was  closed  by  a  family  reunion  at 
Woodstock,  the  pleasant  manor  which  the  king  a  few  months 
previously  had  handed  over  to  his  son.  Here  Henry 
had  prepared  "a  most  magnifique  feast...;  withal  having 
ordained  a  great  summer-house  of  green  boughs  to  be 
built  in  the  parke."  In  this  summer-house  on  Sunday 
evening,  the  30th  of  August,  a  great  supper  was  served, 
"the  King  and  Queen  being  set  at  a  table  by  themselves 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  room  (his  Highness  with  his  sister 


72  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

accompanied  with  the  lords  and  ladies  sitting  at  another 
table  by  themselves).  His  Highnesse  like  to  the  princely 
Bridegroom,  chearing  and  welcoming  his  guests,  there 
appeared  an  universall  contentment  in  all."  ^ 

A  few  weeks  after  this  happy  reunion — the  last  of  its 
kind — the  same  party  was  assembled  in  the  new  Banquet- 
ing Hall  at  Whitehall,  waiting  to  receive  the  Elector  who 
had  reached  Gravesend  the  night  before.  At  length  he 
entered  the  Hall,  escorted  by  the  young  Charles,  Duke 
of  York.  The  first  sight  of  his  kindly  face,  thick  curling 
hair,  and  downy  beard  and  moustache  made  it  at  once 
clear  that  he  had  "most  happily  deceived  good  men's 
doubts  and  ill  men's  expectations."  ^  The  scene  is  well 
described  in  a  news-letter.  "  His  approach,  gesture,  and 
countenance,  were  seasoned  with  a  well-becoming  confidence ; 
and  bending  himself,  with  a  due  reverence,  before  the  King, 
he  told  him  among  other  compliments,  that  in  his  sight 
and  presence  he  enjoyed  a  great  part  (reserving  it  should 
seem,  the  greatest  for  his  mistress)  of  the  end  and  hap- 
piness of  his  journey.  After  turning  to  the  Queen,  she 
entertained  him  with  a  fixed  countenance;  and  though  her 
posture  might  have  seemed  (as  was  judged)  to  promise 
him  the  honour  of  a  kiss  for  his  welcome,  his  humility 
carried  him  no  higher  than  her  hand.  From  which,  after 
some  few  words  of  compliment,  he  made  to  the  prince,  and 
exchanging  with  him  after  a  more  familiar  strain  certain 
passages  of  courtesy,  he  ended  (where  his  desires  could 
not  but  begin)  with  the  princess  (who  was  noted  till  then 
not  to  turn  so  much  as  a  corner  of  an  eye  towards  him), 
and  stooping  low  to  take  up  the  lowest  part  of  her  garment 
to    kiss    it,    she    most    gracefully    courtesying    lower    than 

1    Nichol's  "Progresses,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  462 — 3. 

*  Fynnet  to  Trumbull,  Oct.  23,  161 2,  Winwood,  vol.  iii.,  p.  403. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  73 

accustomed,  and  with  her  hand  staying  him  from  that 
humblest  reverence,  gave  him,  at  his  rising,  a  fair  advan- 
tage (which  he  took)  of  kissing  her."  ^ 

Frederic  had  assuredly  begun  well.  Nor  did  he  fail  to 
improve  his  initial  success.  A  few  days  later  it  was  reported 
that  he  is  "every  day  at  court,  and  plies  his  mistress  so 
hard,  and  takes  no  delight  in  running  at  ring  nor  tennis, 
nor  riding  with  the  prince,  as  Count  Henry  [of  Orange]  his 
uncle  and  others  of  his  company  do ;  but  only  in  her  con- 
versation. On  Tuesday  she  sent  to  invite  him,  as  he  sat  at 
supper,  to  a  Play  of  her  own  servants  in  the  Cock-pit;  and 
yesterday  they  were  all  day  together  at  Somerset  House."  " 

The  tide  of  Elizabeth's  happiness  was  flowing  strong. 
But  in  the  midst  of  her  pleasure  an  event  occurred  which 
for  the  first  time  brought  great  sorrow  into  her  life.  For 
some  weeks  her  favourite  brother  had  been  ailing.  He 
was  the  last  person  to  admit  the  fact  himself;  and  had 
refused  to  discontinue  his  bathes  in  the  Thames  and 
forego  his  other  exercises.  But  by  October  25  th  he  could 
no  longer  struggle  against  his  disease — a  typhoid  fever.  On 
Sunday,  November  ist,  he  so  far  rallied  that  he  could  be 
visited  by  his  family  and  the  Elector.  It  was  for  the  last 
time.  After  five  more  days  of  ceaseless  tossing,  this  prince, 
the  playmate  of  EHzabeth  and  the  hope  of  England,  was  dead. 

*'The  last  words  he  spoke  in  good  sense,"  the  news- writer 
reported,  ''were  'Where  is  my  dear  sister?'  She  was  as 
desirous  to  visit  him,  and  went  once  or  twice  in  the  even- 
ing disguised  for  that  purpose,  but  could  not  be  admitted, 
because  his  disease  was  doubted  to  be  contagious."  ^ 

It  is  well  to  remember  the  episode  of  this  whole-hearted 
friendship   between   the  two   royal   children,  in  the  history 

1  Fynnet  to  Trumbull,  Oct.  23,  1612,  Winwood,  vol.  iii.,  p.  463. 

2  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Oct.  22,  1612,  "Court  and  Times,"  vol.  i.,  p.  198. 

3  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Nov.  12,  1612,  "Court  and  Times  of  James  I." 


74  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  a  court  which  too  often  is  associated  in  men's  thoughts 
only  with  the  depravity  of  a  Lady  Essex,  or  the  venahty 
of  a  Carr.  EHzabeth  never  forgot  her  "dear  dead  brother." 
But  she  was  very  young ;  Frederic  was  at  hand  to  step  in- 
to the  place  left  empty  by  Henry ;  and  her  life  soon  went 
on  again,  as  though  there  had  been  no  sad  interlude. 
The  winter  of  1612 — 3  was  passed  in  hunting  and  the 
usual  amusements  of  the  court.  Elizabeth  was  unlucky 
at  cards.  This  Christmas  she  lost  more  than  .£19  to  her 
father. 

When  Frederic  was  dragged  off  by  James  to  hunt  at 
Royston,  the  lover  used  to  write  frequent  letters  to  his 
mistress,  models  of  propriety  and  worthy  sentiment.  The 
following  is  an  example : 

''Madame, 

''Combien  que  je  n'ay  rien  digne  de  vous 
entretenir,  si  suis-je  contraint  de  vous  importuner  vous 
ressouvenir  de  moy,  vous  assurer  que  n'etes  jamais  sorti 
une  minute  de  mon  coeur  et  pensee.  .  .  .  Rendes  moy 
digne  et  a  vous  agreable  par  vos  loix,  c'est  I'unique  grace 
de  laquelle  je  vous  importune  par  cette  cy,  car  etre  aime 
de  vous,  c'est  le  seul  bien  ou  j'aspire,  assures  moy  done 
de  cela  pour  me  donner  quelque  soulagement  presentement 
en  mes  langueurs  et  toute  ma  vie  au  contentement  faire 
vivre  en  repos  comme  celuy  laquel  est  sans  aucune  excep- 
tion, sans  aucun  desir  que  d'etre,  Madame, 

''Votre  tres  humble,  et  tres  obeissant,  et  tres  fidele  ser- 
viteur, 

"Frederic,  E.P.  ^ 

"De  Roston  [Royston]  le  14  Xbre,  1612." 

1  Fred,  to  Eliz.  Dec.  14,  16 12,  in  Aretin,  Beytrage  zur  Geschichte  und 
Literatur,  Bd.  vii.,  pp.  146 — 7. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  75 

Frederic  found  his  entertainment  at  the  English  court 
an  expensive  luxury.  He  was  anxious  to  return  home  as 
soon  as  possible  with  his  bride.  James,  though  loath  to 
lose  another  child,  at  last  gave  his  consent.  On  December 
27th,  the  two  were  formally  affianced  and  contracted. 
On  Shrove  Sunday,  February  14th,  161 3,  the  wedding 
service  was  performed  in  the  chapel  at  Whitehall.  On 
both  occasions  the  bride  was  overcome  with  laughter:  in 
the  former  function  owing  to  the  bad  French  of  the  contract- 
ing words;  in  the  latter  from  the  sheer  good  spirits  and 
the  Hght-heartedness  of  her  16  years.  ^  The  marriage  was 
a  wonder  of  ceremonial  and  magnificence  even  for  that 
extravagant  age.  The  bride  was  attended  by  Lady  Harington 
(who  in  vain  tried  to  still  her  laughter)  and  by  16  noble 
bridesmaids,  dressed  in  white  satin.  She  herself  was  in 
cloth  of  silver,  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  immense 
value.  Her  hair  hung  in  plaits  down  to  the  waist;  "be- 
tween every  plait  a  roll  or  liste  of  gold  spangles,  peorles, 
rich  stones  and  diamonds;  and  withal  many  diamonds 
of  inestimable  value  embroidered  upon  her  sleeves  which 
even  dazzled  and  amazed  the  eyes  of  all  the  beholders."  ^ 
But  the  wedding  itself  pales  into  insignificance  before  the 
attendant  celebrations.  England  and  Protestant  Europe 
gave  free  vent  in  many  forms  to  their  wild  delight  at 
the  event.  The  plethora  of  "JoyfuU  Nuptiall  Poemes " 
which  were  poured  forth,  can  faintly  be  reahsed  from  the 
knowledge  that  Oxford  alone  published  243  "  Greek,  Latin 
and  Italian  Epithalamia."  And  the  hterary  rejoicings  were 
nothing  compared  to  the  spectacular  demonstrations  of  joy 
which  broke  out  in  London  on  the  Thursday  before  the 
wedding    and    followed   the    newly-married   couple  through 

^  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Dec.  31,  1612,  "  Court  and  Times  of  James  I. ", 
vol.  i.,  p.  216;  Miss  Strickland,  vol.  viii.,  p.  45. 
Nichol,  vol.  ii.,  p.  543. 


76  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

England,  Holland,  and  Germany  until  they  at  last  died 
away  in  the  Palatinate.  London  excelled  in  the  variety 
and  expensiveness  of  its  welcome.  For  a  week,  without 
intermission,  day  and  night,  it  gave  itself  over  to  entertain- 
ments and  jollity — feastings,  dances,  masques,  revels, 
tournaments,  "Triumphant  Sports,"  sham  fights  on  the 
river,  and  "excessive  bravery"  of  every  describable  kind.  ^ 
Our  sympathies  go  out  to  James,  when,  on  Tuesday  the 
1 6th,  the  gentlemen  of  the  Inner  Temple  and  of  Gray's  Inn 
came  by  the  water  up  to  Westminster  to  play  their  masque, 
which,  being  the  contrivance  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  was  to 
outdo  all  that  had  preceded  it.  But  "the  king  was  so 
wearied  and  sleepy,  with  sitting  up  almost  two  whole  nights 
before,  that  he  had  no  edge  to  it.  Whereupon  Sir  Fr. 
Bacon  adventured  to  entreat  of  his  Majesty  that  by  this 
difference  he  would  not,  as  it  were,  bury  them  quick;  and 
I  hear,"  writes  Chamberlain,  ''the  king  should  answer,  that 
then  they  must  bury  him  quick,  for  he  could  last  no 
longer."  ^ 

It  was  not  till  two  months  after  the  wedding  that  James 
consented  to  his  daughter's  departure,  and  everything  was 
prepared  for  the  great  migration.  On  the  loth  of  April, 
the  Electress  Palatine — to  give  EHzabeth  her  new  title — left 
London,  escorted  by  the  King  and  the  court.  As  the  royal 
barges  dropped  down  the  Thames,  amid  the  salutes  of  cannon 
from  the  Tower,  the  banks  were  lined  with  the  enthusiastic 
Londoners,  anxious  to  catch  a  last  glimpse  of  their  favourite 
princess.  A  few,  indeed,  were  to  live  long  enough  to  see 
her  return,  but  under  what  different  circumstances  1     To  the 


1  For  interesting  accounts  of  the  celebrations  vide  Nichol's  "  Progresses," 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  522 — 607;  "Court  and  Times  of  James  I.,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  224 — 230; 
Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  203 — 217. 

2  Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Feb.  18,  1612 — 13,  "Court  and  Times," 
vol.    .,  p.  228. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  77 

others — to  her  father  who  left  her  at  Rochester,  and  to 
Prince  Charles  who  said  farewell  at  Canterbury,  she  was 
henceforth  to  be  but  a  name  and  a  remembrance. 

Not  till  the  night  of  the  25  th  did  the  wind  allow  the 
party  to  set  sail  from  Margate.  The  Elector  and  Electress, 
and  the  faithful  Harington,  who  with  other  English  nobles 
had  been  appointed  as  an  escort  to  the  Palatinate,  sailed 
in  the  **  Royal  Prince,"  the  ship  whose  building  had  been 
the  special  delight  of  Prince  Henry.  It  was  proudly 
captained  by  Phineas  Pett,  under  the  command  of  the  Earl 
of  Nottingham,  the  Lord  Admiral,  who,  in  his  younger 
days  as  Howard  of  Effingham,  had  defeated  the  Armada. 
Thirteen  other  large  ships,  not  to  mention  the  smaller 
vessels,  were  required  to  transport  the  various  attendants 
and  followers  who  numbered  some  675  souls.  It  may  well 
have  been  a  brave  sight  to  see  this  new  Armada  sweeping 
in  crescent  form  across  the  narrow  seas.  ^ 

Behind  Elizabeth  faded  ten  happy  and  peaceful  years  of 
English  girlhood.  Before  her  there  loomed  an  uncertain 
future  in  a  troubled  Germany. 

It  could  not  be  denied  that  Germany  was  troubled.  In 
that  collection  of  ill-fitted  states,  independent  except  in  so 
far  as  they  were  subordinate  to  the  ineffective  and  galling 
overlordship  of  the  Emperor,  there  was  an  ever-growing 
animosity  between  the  three  religious  parties — the  CathoHcs, 
the  Lutherans,  and  the  Calvinists.  Since  the  Counter- 
Reformation  had  begun,  the  Catholics  from  their  stronghold 
in  the  South  and  the  South- East  had  been  the  most  aggres- 
sive party;  and  having  recovered  their  hold  over  Bavaria 
and  the  Hapsburg  lands,  were  pressing  forward  their  con- 
quests  with   the  assistance  of  the  Jesuits.     The  Lutherans, 

*  Germany,  (States)  No.  12,  Public  Record  Office;  Archseologia,  vol.  xii., 
pp.  268 — 9. 


78  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

however,  were  still  predominant  in  the  North  and  North- 
East  of  the  Empire.  The  West,  therefore,  was  the  great 
battle-ground  of  parties ;  and  there  the  Calvinists,  under  the 
leadership  of  the  Palatine  family,  were  vigorously  bidding 
fbr  the  ascendency.  The  hostility  between  the  parties 
was,  of  course,  not  due  merely  to  theological  differences. 
The  Catholics  aimed  at  restoring  the  status  quo  of  1555 
by  strictly  enforcing  of  the  Treaty  of  Augsburg;  the 
Lutherans,  accordingly,  were  fearing  for  their  ecclesiastical 
lands  that  had  been  secularised  since  the  treaty ;  while  the 
Calvinists  realised  that  their  very  existence  in  the  Empire 
was  threatened.  Such  were  the  elements  of  discord  that  were 
disturbing  Germany,  and  which  might  bring  about  a  crisis 
at  any  moment  in  any  corner  of  the  land.  Moreover,  since 
the  formation,  in  1608,  of  the  "Protestant  Union"  and  the 
'*  Catholic  League,"  both  the  aggressive  parties  had  been 
ready  arrayed  for  the  fight,  and  it  had  become  almost 
certain  that  any  local  quarrel  would  bring  about  a  general 
engagement.  In  the  following  year  it  had  seemed  at  one 
time  that  the  occasion  for  the  expected  outbreak  had  actually 
been  given  by  the  disputed  succession  to  the  important 
territories  of  Cleves-Julich.  A  powerful  Protestant  League 
had  then  been  formed  by  the  Union,  together  with  Henry  IV. 
of  France,  the  Dutch  States,  and  James  of  England.  Its 
immediate  object  was  the  settlement  of  the  Cleves-Julich 
succession ;  its  ultimate  triumph  would  have  involved  the 
overthrow  of  the  Hapsburgs.  Then  had  come  the  blow 
of  Ravaillac — fatal  to  the  alliance  as  well  as  to  Henry. 
The  crisis  had  luckily  been  postponed  by  a  temporary 
arrangement  as  to  Cleves-Julich,  and  by  the  accession  of 
the  moderate  Matthias  as  Emperor.  The  question  was 
shelved  for  the  time-being,  but  the  danger  of  the  general 
situation  continued. 

To    no    one    would    the    situation    be    more    dangerous 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  79 

and  more  difficult  than  to  Frederic.  For  the  last  two 
centuries  the  Palatinate  had  taken  a  very  active  part 
in  European  politics.  The  influential  position  which  the 
Electors  had  assumed,  certainly  was  not  proportioned  to 
the  extent  of  their  territories,  split  up  as  these  were,  into 
two  groups — the  so-called  Upper  and  Lower  Palatinate.  Of 
these  groups  neither  possessed  any  geographical  individu- 
ality. And,  to  make  matters  worse,  large  fractions  of  the 
territory  had  been  alienated  to  the  cadet  branches  of  the 
House — the  Counts  Palatine  of  Neuburg  and  Zweibriicken. 
The  leading  part  recently  played  by  the  Palatinate  had 
been  determined  partly  by  its  prestige  as  the  first  lay 
Electorate,  the  richness  of  its  Rhinelands,  and  its  command- 
ing geographical  position  on  the  high  road  to  France  and 
the  Low  Countries,  but  still  more  by  the  energetic,  spirited 
characters  of  the  Electors.  These  had  placed  themselves 
at  the  head  of  the  aggressive  Calvinists.  A  generation  back, 
John  Casimir  had  been  found  fighting  the  Catholics  some- 
times in  France,  sometimes  in  the  Netherlands.  Our  Fre- 
deric's father  had  been  chiefly  responsible  for  organising 
the  Protestant  Union.  On  his  death  its  leadership,  as 
though  it  were  hereditary,  had  fallen  during  the  minority 
of  Frederic  V.  to  the  regent,  John  of  Zweibriicken.  But 
there  was  no  doubt  that  the  young  Frederic  would  soon 
have  to  undertake  the  grievous  honour  himself.  It  was 
equally  certain  that  in  those  threatening  times  he  would 
have  a  most  difficult  course  to  steer,  in  his  two-fold 
capacity  as  Elector  Palatine,  and  chief  of  the  Protestant 
Union. 

And  what  were  his  qualifications  for  the  task?  Elegant 
in  person,  suave  in  manner,  Frederic  was  an  admirable 
performer  in  the  everyday  courtesies  of  life;  and,  with  his 
strong   sense   of  honour,   duty,  and  religion,  there  was  no 


8o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

doubt  that  he  would  make  an  excellent  husband.  But  he 
belonged  to  that  class  of  men  whose  virtues  are  as  great 
a  drawback  in  public  life,  as  they  are  beneficial  in  private. 
At  Sedan,  he  had  learnt  the  refinement  and  the  creed  of 
the  Huguenot  noble;  yet  he  had  not  unlearnt  his  German 
nature.  He  took  too  seriously  his  own  importance  and  his 
Calvinism.  But  he  had  lost  the  strong  will  and  the  power 
of  sustained  effort  natural  to  his  countrymen.  Bred  to  be 
a  mere  courtier,  he  had  had  no  experience  whatever  of 
practical  affairs.  His  interests  lay  only  in  the  direction  of 
the  small  matters  of  everyday  life.  There  is  no  evidence 
to  show  that  he  had  yet  attempted  to  understand  politics, 
or  to  prepare  himself  for  the  duties  that  lay  before  him. 
Nor  was  it  likely  that  his  failings  would  be  corrected  by 
the  influence  of  his  young  wife.  Elizabeth's  interests  and 
sympathies  resembled  only  too  closely  those  of  Frederic 
himself.  Though  she  was  his  superior  in  point  of  judgment 
and  vivacity,  she  had  yet  to  learn  to  control  herself  and 
her  household,  before  she  could  think  of  helping  her  husband 
in  affairs  of  state. 

Happily  for  themselves,  however,  Frederic  and  Elizabeth 
were  not  Hkely  to  disturb  their  minds  with  the  difficulties 
of  the  future.  The  present  with  its  bridal  festivities  was 
all-absorbing.  When  they  were  enthusiastically  received, 
on  their  disembarkation,  by  Prince  Maurice  of  Orange,  and 
the  Dutch  Estates,  such  political  considerations  as  may  have 
arisen  in  their  minds,  cannot  have  been  otherwise  than 
pleasant. 

Amid  general  fetes  and  rejoicing,  the  young  Elector  and 
Electress,  the  representatives  of  the  new  Protestant  alliance, 
travelled  slowly  from  Holland,  up  the  Rhine  to  the  Pala- 
tinate. Their  triumphal  progress  was  a  wonder  of  the  age. 
Those  who  are  curious  to  know  how  Elizabeth  walked,  like 
a  common  burgher's  wife,  through  the  streets  of  Flushing ; 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  8i 

how  she  left  the  Hague  in  her  chariot  with  its  four  white 
horses,  the  gift  of  her  husband;  how  by  the  time  she 
reached  Cologne  the  party  had  swollen  to  an  army  some 
4,000  strong;  and  how  she  embarked  at  Bonn  on  a  ship 
marvellous  with  velvet  and  marble  and  laurels — these  and 
a  thousand  other  details  they  may  find  in  the  pages  of 
Mrs.  Everett-Green,  and  in  other  works  such  as  that 
whose  title  begins  "  Beschreibung  der  Reiss:  Empfahrung 
dess  Ritterlichen  Ordens:  Volbringung  des  Heyraths:  und 
gliicklicher  Heimfiihrung:  Wie  auch  der  ansehnlichen 
Einfiihrung:  gehaltener  Ritterspiel  und  Fremdenfests :  des 
Durchleuchtigsten  Hochgebornen  Fiirsten  und  Herrn,  Herrn 
Friederichen  dess  Fiinften  etc.  mit  der  auch  Durchleuch- 
tigsten Hochgebornen  Fiirstin  und  koniglichen  Princessin 
Elisabethen." 

When  the  Electress  reached  the  Palatinate  the  rejoicings 
were  redoubled.  The  loyal  Heidelbergers  determined  to 
rival  all  that  had  gone  before.  On  June  7th,  she  arrived 
outside  the  town.  As  she  passed  through  the  Palatine 
army,  for  almost  an  hour  the  air  was  filled  with  the 
thunder  of  the  cannon,  and  the  plain  with  smoke.  Then 
the  procession  was  formed,  and  with  the  fullest  state 
she  drove  through  the  town,  and  up  the  steep  hill, 
under  triumphal  arches^  ponderous  with  learned  allegory, 
stopping  at  intervals  to  receive  loyal  addresses  from 
the  magnates  of  the  town  and  university.  At  length 
the  beautiful  Schloss  itself  was  reached.  Elizabeth  threw 
her  arms  around  Louisa  Juliana,  her  mother-in-law,  a 
genuine  Dutch  woman  of  many  virtues  and  of  much 
stolidity.  Frederic  carried  his  bride  across  his  threshold, 
and  led  her  into  the  great  hall  where  her  new  female 
relatives  were  waiting,  drawn  up  in  two  ranks,  ready  to 
be  presented. 

6 


82  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

For  a  week  the  celebrations  were  continued.  It  was  the 
usual  round :  thanksgiving  services,  lengthy  sermons  by  the 
court  chaplain,  the  great  Scultetus;  illuminations,  classical 
masques,  dinners,  tournaments,  running  at  rings,  running  at 
tubs,  running  at  the  head  of  a  Moor.  Then  slowly  the 
dissipations  abated.  The  guests  and  cousins  returned  home, 
the  English  escort  took  its  departure.  For  a  time  the  Har- 
ingtons  remained  by  the  side  of  Elizabeth  to  see  the  arrange- 
ments of  her  new  home  completed.  Then  even  the  Har- 
ingtons  left  her.  Lord  Harington  she  was  never  to  see 
again :  the  kindly  old  gentleman  died  a  few  weeks  later  at 
Worms,  worn  out  and  impoverished  by  his  labours  on  behalf 
of  his  princess. 

For  six  years  Elizabeth's  life  as  Electress  Palatine  was 
happy  and  uneventful.  At  her  disposal  was  everything  that 
a  heart  ought  to  desire.  She  was  the  mistress  of  the  Schloss 
on  the  wooded  heights  above  the  straggling  town  and  the 
winding  Neckar,  whose  cluster  of  red-stoned  ruins  is  now 
defiled  by  the  cosmopolitan  tourist.  She  was  surrounded 
by  visitors  from  England  and  France,  as  well  as  by  her 
husband's  family  and  the  nobles  of  the  Palatinate.  The 
court  of  Heidelberg  compared  favourably  with  most  other 
German  courts.  It  had  been  gradually  exchanging  the 
rudeness  of  the  castle  life  of  mediaeval  Germany  for  the 
refinements  of  P'rench  and  Italian  civilisation.  Under  Fre- 
deric IV.  the  change  had  been  almost  completed.  The 
diary  of  that  extraordinary  man,  at  once  an  earnest  Calvinist, 
a  cool  statesman,  and  a  colossal  drinker,  gives,  concisely 
enough,  an  insight  into  the  court  life  that  immediately 
preceded  the  regime  of  Frederic  V.  and  Elizabeth.  After 
such  entries  as  "am  i6  haben  wir  getanzet,  am  17  wieder 
getanzet  und  maskaraden  gangen,  18  wieder  maskaraden 
gangen,"  the  old  man  enters  (no  doubt  under  the  influence 
of  Louisa  Juliana)  many  good  resolutions,  such  as  "Trinken 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  83 

auf  ein  Vierteljahr  zu  verreden."  ^  With  the  reign  of  Fre- 
deric V.  and  Elizabeth,  the  coarseness  of  the  old  order 
disappeared ;  and  the  change  was  doubtless  in  some  measure 
due  to  the  excellent  example  of  the  Elector  and  Electress 
themselves.  It  was  not  that  the  court  became  Puritan: 
for  straight-laced  Calvinism  found  little  favour  except  with 
Scultetus  and  the  preachers;  but  the  dissipations  became 
more  refined,  luxury  and  magnificence  grew  apace,  foreign 
fashions  came  in,  and  even  the  German  language  was  almost 
ousted  by  the  French. 

Thus  Elizabeth's  life  as  Electress  was  not  very  different 
from  what  it  had  been  when  she  had  been  Princess  of  Eng- 
land. So  keenly  did  she  continue  her  hunting,  that  her 
astonished  subjects  christened  her  their  "Diana  of  the  Rhine." 
For  the  rest,  the  common  round  was  chiefly  varred  by 
occasional  visits  to  German  Princes,  and  by  the  birth  of 
three  children:  Henry  Frederic  in  1614,  Charles  Louis  in 
161 7,  and  Elizabeth  in  161 8.  Frederic  did  all  that  he  could 
to  make  her  happy  at  Heidelberg.  He  added  a  new  "  Eng- 
lish" wing  to  the  Schloss.  He  ordered  the  rocky  hill  on 
which  the  Schloss  stood,  to  be  planted  with  orange  trees 
and  adorned  with  fountains  and  grottoes;  and  he  raised 
her  allowance  for  dresses. 

In  spite  of  her  general  happiness,  Elizabeth  now  began 
to  receive  her  first  schooling  in  troubles  and  worries. 

In  the  first  place,  her  husband  fell  sick  soon  after  he  had 
reached  his  majority  in  16 14,  and  this,  added  to  the  burden 
of  his  new  poHtical  responsibilities,  made  him  moody  and 
dejected.  He  would  **  not  even  discourse  with,  caress,  esteem, 
or  speak  to  any  one,  unless  compelled  to  it;"  and  poor 
Colonel  Schomberg,  the  factotum  of  the  court,  used  to  become 
both   afraid   and   ashamed   when   any   one   came   near  his 

1  Hausser,  Geschichte  der  rheinischen  Pfalz,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  240 — i. 


84  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

master.  Elizabeth  poured  out  her  troubles  to  King  James's 
secretary  in  a  letter  which  is  very  different  from  her  usual 
careless,  complimentary  messages: — 

**  Sir, — The  Elector  sending  this  bearer  to  his  majesty,  I 
was  desirous  to  let  you  understand  something  of  his  estate, 
as  of  this  place.  Himself,  at  this  last  assembly,  got  an 
ague,  which  though  it  hath  held  him  not  long,  yet  hath  it 
made  him  weak  and  look  very  ill:  since  his  fits  left  him, 
he  is  very  heavy,  and  so  extremely  melancholy,  as  I  never 
saw  in  my  life  so  great  an  alteration  in  any.  I  cannot 
tell  what  to  say  to  it,  but  I  think  he  hath  so  much  business 
at  this  time  as  troubles  his  mind  too  much ;  but  if  I  may 
say  truth,  I  think  there  is  some  that  doth  trouble  him  too 
much,  for  I  find  they  desire  he  should  bring  me  to  be  all 
Dutch,  and  to  their  fashions,  which  I  neither  have  been 
bred  to,  nor  is  necessary  in  everything  I  should  follow; 
neither  will  I  do  it,  for  I  find  there  is  that  would  set  me 
in  a  lower  rank  than  them  that  have  gone  before  me; 
which  I  think  they  do  the  prince  wrong  in  putting  into 
his  head  at  this  time,  when  he  is  but  too  melancholy."  * 

The  last  few  sentences  refer  to  a  vexatious  question 
which  was  continually  cropping  up  during  these  years. 
James  I.  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  trouble.  He  had 
extorted  from  Frederic,  just  before  the  latter  left  England, 
a  promise  that  Elizabeth,  as  the  daughter  of  a  king,  should 
give  precedence  to  no  German  princes  or  princesses  what- 
soever. The  claim  was  not  justified  by  history :  it  is  an 
instance  of  that  petty  silliness  which  negatives  the  claim 
of  the  British  Solomon  to  real  statesmanship.  In  this  case, 
though  Elizabeth  was  for  a  time  allowed  to  take  precedence 
over  her  husband  and  her  mother-in-law,  the  privilege, 
instead   of  adding   any    credit  to  England,  only  tended  to 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  266. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  85 

make  the  Princess  and  her  country  odious  in  the  eyes  of 
the  Germans.  At  the  Heidelberg  court,  where  the  question 
aHenated  Elizabeth  from  the  worthy  Louisa  Juliana  and 
almost  brought  about  strained  relations  between  herself  and 
her  husband,  the  claim  was  bad  enough;  but  when  the 
Electress  went  to  visit  the  other  princes,  it  became  intoler- 
able. Elizabeth  herself  would  have  been  ready  to  give  way, 
but  James  would  admit  no  compromise,  and  wrote  violent 
letters  forbidding  any  surrender.  ^  The  difficulty  for  a  time 
assumed  quite  serious  proportions,  but  at  last  was  unsatis- 
factorily shelved:  Louisa  Juliana  retired  from  her  son's 
court,  and  Elizabeth  resolved  for  the  present  not  to  pay 
any  more  visits.  The  whole  affair  must  have  made  her 
doubly  regret  that  her  husband  had  not  the  status  of  a  king. 

Less  serious  but  somewhat  similar  disputes  arose  in  con- 
nection with  the  Englishmen  who  had  followed  Elizabeth 
to  Germany.  Some  200  of  these  remained  at  Heidelberg, 
even  when  the  English  Commissioners  had  returned  home. 
At  least  half  of  them  had  no  connection  whatever  with  the 
Princess.  They  hung  around  the  court  and  made  them- 
selves generally  disagreeable,  consuming  the  Elector's  sub- 
stance, and  not  concealing  their  poor  opinion  of  his  subjects; 
and,  of  course,  Elizabeth  herself  was  regarded  as  responsible 
for  their  misdeeds. 

It  was,  indeed,  too  true  that  for  many  of  her  difficulties, 
Elizabeth  had  only  herself  to  blame.  Schomberg,  again 
and  again,  complains  that  she  is  culpably  "  facile."  '*  Madame 
allows  herself  to  be  led  by  anybody,  and  for  fear  of  giving 
offence  to  some  one,  is  almost  afraid  of  speaking  to  any 
body,  this  makes  some  of  her  people  assume  a  little  more 
authority  than  they  should  do."  ^  So,  too,  as  of  old,  she 
was  always  running  into  debt.     Her  personal  extravagance 

1  Hist.  MS.  Com.,  2nd  Report,  App.  p.  52. 
'  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  255. 


86  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

was  bad,  but  her  liberality  was  worse.  **  Every  day  people 
beg  of  Madame/*  writes  Schomberg,  "  and  right  or  wrong 
she  cannot  refuse,  however  much  she  may  be  herself  in- 
convenienced." ^  And  again  :  "  Madame  has  no  resolution, 
no  consideration,  is  too  liberal  to  the  unfortunate,  which  I 
call  rather  fear,  irresolution,  pusillanimity  than  a  virtuous 
liberality."  ' 

Colonel  Schomberg,  the  writer  of  these  criticisms,  was  the 
main  prop  of  the  whole  court.  He  had  been  Frederic's 
right-hand  man  ever  since  his  accession  to  the  Electorate. 
James  had  recognised  the  colonel's  honesty  and  ability 
when  the  latter  was  attending  his  prince  in  England;  and 
on  their  departure  the  king  had  assigned  him  a  pension 
and  had  appointed  him  to  be  EngHsh  Agent  to  the  pro- 
testant  Princes  of  Germany.  Thus  Schomberg  had  not 
only  to  manage  the  Heidelberg  court  as  the  major-domo 
of  Frederic,  but  had  also  to  represent  the  English  interests 
and  be  responsible  to  the  English  king.  As  he  explained 
to  James,  it  was  a  most  difficult  position.  "Your  majesty 
must  consider  that  I  have  a  young  prince  and  princess,  an 
administrator,  mother-in-law,  sisters,  aunts  and  every  one 
their  trains ;  everybody  wishes  to  govern ;  everybody  believes 
that  I  do  more  for  one  than  another."  He  might  well 
exclaim,  "Have  I  not  a  miserable  life?"' 

Yet  his  efforts  had  their  results.  The  English  who  had 
no  business  at  Heidelberg  were  sent  off,  those  who  remained 
were  strictly  supervised,  and  in  order  to  avoid  the  quarrels 
with  the  "Allemans",  a  special  table  was  set  apart  for 
them  at  meals. 

Then  Schomberg  turned  his  attention  to  Elizabeth  herself. 
He   drew  up  a  long  document  of  candid,  practical  advice. 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  262. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  v.,  p.  268. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  v.,  p.  256. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  87 

A  few  paragraphs  will  be  sufficient  to  show  what  was  the 
actual  condition  of  affairs  at  the  court  of  Heidelberg. 

I.  "Your  Highness  should  ever  seek  to  please  God  and 
the  prince,  and  to  reprove  those  who  try  to  sow  dissensions 
between  you. 

3.  Never  grant  anything  on  the  first  request,  but  answer 
to  all — *I  will  consider' — *I  will  think  of  it ' — *  I  will  see,' — then 
if  you  find  it  reasonable,  grant  it  of  your  own  accord,  as 
from  a  heroic  liberality,  and  never  from  fear,  for  your 
highness's  goodness  is  abused. 

5.  Have  a  wardrobe  in  which  to  put  all  the  old  dresses, 
and  every  year  examine  them— choose  those  you  will  not 
wear  again,  and  give  them  as  you  please,  but  have  a  list 
kept  of  all,  with  the  names  of  those  to  whom  you  gave  them." 

**  For  the  direction  of  your  servants : — 

4.  Prevent  gossiping  between  servants  of  all  grades; 
they  only  combine  together  to  resist  your  commands:  and 
let  order  and  reason  govern  your  highness,  not  the  prattle 
of  maids  or  valets,  to  whom  you  are  now  enslaved;  and 
while  they  thus  abuse  your  goodness,  you  will  always  be 
despised  and  lose  your  control  over  your  people. 

5 .  Let  it  be  known  that  you  will  be  ruled  by  reason ; 
that  you  abhor  disobedience  and  flattery  and  lying; 
that  you  will  hear  no  tales,  or  importunities ;  that  you  will 
have  no  coquetting  in  your  presence ;  that  the  men-servants 
shall  keep  their  places  at  the  door,  so  that  when  you  want 
a  little  private  conversation,  you  may  not  be  obliged  to 
retire  to  your  bed-room  or  dressing-room;"  etc. ^ 

By  his  indefatigable  care  Schomberg  actually  succeeded 
in  temporarily  extricating  Elizabeth  from  her  debts  and 
difficulties.     In  writing  to  the  English  secretary  he  proudly 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  269 — 270. 


88  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

summarises  his  achievements  as  follows  :  *'  I  have  brought  up 
the  prince,  reformed  the  court,  installed  Madame,  maintained 
the  balance  proper  for  the  preservation  of  their  highnesses, 
offended  everybody  to  serve  his  Majesty  and  Madame,  and 
so  acted  that  his  Majesty  can  never  with  truth,  hear  any 
reproach  or  reflection  upon  these  personages,  though  married 
so  young,  assisted  so  little,  left,  flattered  by  everybody ;  and 
it  is  I  alone  who  have  had  this  burden  upon  my  shoulders."  ^ 
These  were  not  empty  boasts  on  the  part  of  Schomberg. 
The  value  of  his  services  to  the  court  was  fully  recognised 
by  others.  In  1616  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  then  English 
ambassador  at  Venice,  spent  some  days  at  Heidelberg,  and 
sent  home  to  James  a  long  report  as  to  the  condition 
of  Palatine  affairs.  After  describing  Frederic  himself  who 
''^ par  boutades  is  merry,  but  for  the  most  part  cogitative, 
or  (as  they  here  call  it)  malincolique ;''  after  noticing  the 
staid  and  solemn  manners  that  prevailed  at  the  court,  and 
after  discussing  the  difificulties  of  the  question  of  preced 
ence,  and  the  measures  by  which  "the  domestic  differ- 
ences" had  been  as  well  settled  as  they  could  be,  he 
commences  to  praise  the  colonel:  "I  must  both  by  my 
own  most  assured  information  here  from  others  and  by 
her  Highness'  particular  and  serious  commandment  give 
your  Majesty  this  account  of  him.  That  he  is  the  only 
sincere  and  resolute  friend  that  she  hath  found  since  her 
being  here.  That  without  his  continual  vigilance  and  power 
with  the  prince,  she  had  been  much  prejudiced  both  in 
her  dignity  and  the  rest,  not  so  much  by  the  prince  his 
own  motions  as  by  the  infusions  of  others  and  particularly 
(as  I  conceive)  of  the  old  Electoress."  ^ 

1  Schomberg  to  Winwood,   May  24,  1615,  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  277. 

'  Wotton's  Despatch,  23  April,  1616,  S.  P.  For.:  Venice,  vol.  xxii.;  lam 
indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  L.  Pearsall  Smith  for  a  transcript  of  this 
despatch. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  89 

But  Schomberg  was  not  to  bear  for  long  the  burden  of  his 
arduous  duties.  In  16 15,  after  many  years  of  courtship, 
he  had  married  Mistress  Anne  Dudley,  Elizabeth's  principal 
lady-in-waiting.  The  next  year,  Anne  died  in  child-birth, 
and  Schomberg  soon  followed  her  to  the  grave.  To  Eliza- 
beth the  two  deaths  were  a  loss  which  even  the  hurried 
return  of  the  affectionate  old  Lady  Harington  could  not 
make  good. 

How,  it  may  be  asked,  did  these  deaths,  how  did  these 
new  responsibilities  as  Electress  Palatine  and  as  a  mother, 
affect  Elizabeth's  character?  It  had  been  naturally  sweet 
and  merry:  in  these  six  years  it  should  have  become 
stronger  and  deeper.  Yet,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  judge 
of  such  matters,  there  was  no  material  development.  Eliza- 
beth at  twenty-three  years  of  age  appears  to  have  been  still 
the  girl  of  sixteen,  and  in  some  respects  almost  the  child  of 
ten.  This  may  have  been  simply  the  Nemesis  of  her  good  looks 
and  royal  rank ;  the  result  of  being  everywhere  and  always 
flattered  and  spoiled;  or  perhaps  it  can  be  explained  by 
the  supposition  that  she  had  inherited  some  of  her  mother's 
perpetually  infantile  youth. 

Certainly  her  troubles  and  responsibilities  did  not  make 
a  great  impression  on  her.  Though  on  hearing  of  her 
mother's  death,  which  occurred  in  16 19,  she  does  indeed 
tell  James  that  "sadness  weighs  my  heart  so  that  it 
hinders  me  from  writing  as  I  ought,"  her  "extreme 
regret"  does  not  seem  to  have  been  of  long  duration, 
nor,  considering  how  little  she  had  seen  of  Queen  Anne, 
need  this  be  to  her  discredit.  Of  Anne  Dudley,  who 
had  been  her  companion  since  childhood,  the  Princess 
writes:  "She  is  a  great  loss  to  me  for  she  was  very  care- 
ful in  all  that  concerned  me."  And  similarly  when  her 
other  friends  die  she  is  at  the  most  "very  sorry."  Her 
affection   for  her  children  seems  similarly  to  have  been  of 


90  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

a  somewhat  casual  kind.  She  found  her  little  "black  baby  "^ 
as  good  as  a  doll,  or  a  pet.  An  amusing  description  of 
the  Electress  with  her  monkeys  and  her  children  was  writ- 
ten to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  by  one  of  her  ladies,  who 
facetiously  calls  herself  "  the  Right  Reverend  Mistress  Eliza- 
beth Apsley,  chief  governor  to  all  the  monkeys  and  the 
dogs." — "Her  Highness  is  very  well,  and  takes  great  de- 
light in  those  fine  monkeys  you  sent  hither,  which  now 
are  grown  so  proud  as  they  will  come  to  nobody  but  her 
Highness,  who  hath  them  in  her  bed  every  morning;  and 
the  little  prince,  he  is  so  fond  of  them  as  he  says  he 
desires  nothing  but  such  monkeys  as  his  own.  . . .  They 
do  make  very  good  sport,  3ind  htr  Highness  very  merry.'' ^ 

However,  Elizabeth  retained  the  charms  and  virtues  as 
well  as  the  childishness  of  her  girlhood.  Lord  Doncaster's 
praises  of  her  to  James,  in  1619,  do  not  read  like  mere 
courtly  flatteries: — "Concerning  her  Highness,  I  can  say 
no  more  than  that  she  is  that  same  devout,  good,  sweet 
princess  your  Majesty's  daughter  should  be,  and  she  was 
ever ;  obliging  all  hearts  that  come  near  her  by  her  courtesy, 
and  so  dearly  loving  and  beloved  of  the  Prince  her  hus- 
band, that  it  is  a  joy  to  all  that  behold  them."  ^ 

During  these  first  six  years  of  her  married  life  (1613 — 
1619)  the  ''good,  sweet  Princess"  was  too  much  busied 
with  the  amusements  and  troubles  of  her  court,  to  disturb 
herself  greatly  with  the  politics  of  the  time.  Yet  it  was 
during  these  same  years  that  the  Palatinate,  under  the  weak 
control  of  her  husband,  was  drifting  into  the  vortex  of  the 
political  storm. 


1  Elizabeth   to   James,    Dec.    14,  1615,    quoted   in  Everett-Green,    vol.  v., 
p.  278. 

2  Domestic  Papers,   1618,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  288. 

3  Gardiner,  "  Letters  and  Documents  illustrating  the  relations  between  Eng- 
land and  Germany,"  vol.,  i.,  p.  118. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  91 

When,  in  16 14,  Frederic  came  of  age  and  took  over 
the  government  of  his  state,  and  the  leadership  of  the 
Protestant  Union,  there  lay  before  him  two  alternative 
policies:  either  he  could  attempt  to  unite  the  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists  of  the  Empire  in  the  defence  of  their  com- 
mon interests,  or  he  could  help  to  form  a  more  aggressive 
alliance,  which,  while  resting  on  a  broad  basis  of  hostility 
to  the  Hapsburgs  and  Catholicism,  should  be  worked 
mainly  in  the  interests  of  Calvinism.  Of  the  two  alter- 
natives, the  way  of  reconciliation  was  the  more  difficult. 
There  had  never  been  any  love  lost  between  the  Protes- 
tant Union  and  the  Lutherans;  while  the  Calvinists  of  the 
former  were  democratic  and  cosmopolitan,  the  latter  were 
aristocratic  and  conservative,  and  were  controlled  by 
John  George,  Elector  of  Saxony,  a  man  who,  in  the  mo- 
ments when  he  was  neither  hunting  nor  drinking,  generally 
inclined  to  side  with  the  Emperor  and  authority.  Yet, 
difficult  as  it  was,  united  action  between  the  two  branches 
of  Protestantism  was  the  only  safe  policy ;  and  it  was  a 
course  that  appeared  practicable  to  Maurice,  Landgrave  of 
Hesse-Cassel,  the  ablest  of  the  Calvinists. 

Frederic,  however,  chose  the  more  dangerous  and  the 
more  showy  of  the  alternatives.  He  could  scarcely  help 
his  choice.  Brought  up  by  his  French  uncle,  the  Duke 
of  Bouillon,  the  Huguenot  who  was  still  showing  France 
how  to  make  of  sedition  a  profitable  employment;  a  dis- 
ciple of  his  Dutch  uncle,  the  great  Maurice,  arch-enemy 
of  Romanism  and  the  Hapsburgs;  married  to  the  daughter 
of  the  English  James,  the  schemer  who  for  the  time  being 
was  inclined  to  fancy  himself  as  the  champion  of  Protes- 
tantism, Frederic  naturally  looked  at  German  politics 
through  foreign  glasses,  and  as  naturally  stepped  into  the 
place  marked  out  for  him  by  the  world  as  the  represent- 
ative of  the  international  anti-Catholic  alliance.     Moreover, 


92  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

with  his  hesitating,  pleasure-loving  character,  he  was  in  the 
hands  of  his  father's  ministers — Christian  of  Anhalt,  the 
Dhonas,  Solms,  Camerarius, — and  these  had  already  com- 
mitted themselves  and  their  state  to  the  dangerous  forward 
policy.  The  Palatinate  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  the 
events  of  1608 — 1610,  events  which  had  shown  that  the 
Calvinists  had  the  desire  (though  the  death  of  Henry  IV. 
had  deprived  them  of  the  power)  to  ruin  the  Hapsburgs. 
Thus,  even  before  the  accession  of  Frederic  V.,  the  Palatinate 
had  thrown  down  the  glove  to  the  Hapsburgs  and  the 
Catholics. 

For  the  time  being,  however,  there  existed  a  suspicious 
truce  between  the  two  parties.  While  the  Calvinists 
could  not  recover  from  the  defection  of  France,  the  Cath- 
olics were  crippled  by  the  luke-warmness  of  the  Spanish 
Hapsburgs,  by  the  existence  of  a  powerful  Protestant  nobil- 
ity in  Austria,  Hungary,  and  Bohemia,  and,  above  all,  by 
the  want  of  union  in  their  own  ranks. 

It  was  out  of  this  want  of  union  that  there  arose  a 
question  around  which  the  efforts  of  all  parties  centred.  The 
right  wing  of  the  Catholics  realised  that  Matthias,  the 
reigning  Emperor,  was  not  the  man  to  lead  them  to  victory. 
They  therefore  placed  all  their  hopes  on  Matthias'  cousin, 
Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Styria  and  Carinthia,  a  pupil  of 
the  Jesuits,  who  had  already  won  his  laurels  by  the 
extirpation  of  Protestantism  in  his  own  Duchies.  Their 
immediate  object  was  to  secure  the  recognition  of  Ferdinand 
as  heir  to  Matthias,  (i)  in  the  hereditary  dominions  of 
the  Hapsburgs,  and  (2)  in  the  Empire.  And  consequently 
the  chief  aim  of  Frederic  and  the  Calvinists  was  to  prevent 
this  recognition. 

If  Frederic  had  confined  himself  to  this  aim,  he  would 
simply  have  been  doing  openly  what  the  jealous  Matthias 
was    doing    in   an  underhand  manner.     But  instead  of  this 


EIJZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  93 

he  involved  his  legitimate  opposition  in  a  network  of  adven- 
turous and  often  seditious  schemes.  In  these  matters,  how- 
ever, Frederic  was  Httle  more  than  the  willing  tool  of  his 
cabinet,  and  especially  of  Christian  of  Anhalt,  who,  though 
in  name  only  the  Governor  of  the  Upper  Palatinate,  was 
in  reality  the  manager  of  the  whole  Palatinate  and  of  the 
Protestant  Union.  Christian  had  been  originally  a  mere 
soldier.  Then,  when  fighting  for  Henry  IV.  in  France,  he 
had  embraced  Calvinism  and  the  restless  politics  of  the 
Huguenots,  and  for  the  last  20  years  he  had  been  Gover- 
nor of  the  Upper  Palatinate  and  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
Calvinists  in  Germany.  He  was  a  believer,  firstly,  in 
intrigue,  secondly,  in  "  blood  and  iron". 

A  good  example  of  the  political  methods  pursued  by 
the  Palatine  Cabinet  is  to  be  found  in  the  negotiations 
which  it  was  carrying  on  at  the  beginning  of  the  year 
161 7.  One  agent,  Christopher  von  Dohna^  who  had  been 
sent  to  Bohemia  and  Austria,  reported  that  the  dissolution 
of  the  Hapsburg  monarchy  was  at  hand:  that  in  each 
country  there  was  a  pretender  ready  to  assume  the  crown 
on  the  death  of  Matthias,  and  that  everywhere  men  were 
looking  to  the  Union  as  the  champion  of  Protestantism. 
A  few  weeks  later  another  agent,  Camerarius,  was  intriguing 
with  the  Bohemian  nobles,  who  promised  never  to  elect 
Ferdinand  to  their  crown;  and  he  then  proceeded  to 
Saxony,  where  he  suggested  to  John  George  that  Bohemia 
would  make  an  admirable  addition  to  his  Electorate — a 
suggestion  to  which  the  Elector  sensibly  repHed  that  he 
had  enough  already,  and  did  not  wish  to  hazard  that  which 
he  had.  ^ 

These  negotiations  illustrate  the  futile  as  well  as  the 
mischievous  character  of  the  Palatine  politics.     Within  four 

*  Gindely,  Geschichte  des  Dreissig  Jahrigen  Krieges,  vol.  i.,  pp.  186 — 8. 


94  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

months,  Matthias  allowed  Ferdinand  to  be  brought  for- 
ward as  his  heir,  and  the  Bohemians,  surprised  and  in- 
timidated, ''accepted"  the  CathoHc  zealot  as  their  future 
king.  A  few  months  later  their  example  was  followed  by 
the  Hungarians.  The  Palatine  Cabinet  struggled  hard  to 
prevent  the  victory  of  the  Catholics  being  completed  by 
the  election  of  Ferdinand  as  King  of  the  Romans.  They 
implored  other  candidates  to  stand :  but  it  was  in  vain. 
Ferdinand  paid  a  visit  to  Dresden  and  danced  with  the 
Saxon  Elector's  daughter:  it  seemed  certain  that  he  would 
secure  John  George's  vote  and  a  majority  in  the  Electoral 
College.  And  so,  by  the  March  of  1618,  Frederic  was 
realising  that  all  his  recent  plans  were  failing:  he  saw 
approaching  the  reign  of  the  enemy  whom  he  had  irritated 
with  his  countless  intrigues :  but  neither  he  nor  his  advisers 
had  any  clear  policy  with  which  to  meet  the  future  dangers. 

It  was  at  this  point,  that  on  March  23rd  there  occurred 
the  famous  "  Defenestration "  at  Prague.  The  Bohemians 
had  soon  discovered  the  consequences  of  their  rash  acknow- 
ledgment of  Ferdinand.  It  had  become  clear  that  the 
Hapsburg  government,  by  questioning  some  of  the  privileges 
which  had  been  won  by  the  Protestants  in  1609,  was  be- 
ginning a  systematic  attempt  to  restore  the  authority  of 
Catholicism.  The  discontent  had  simmered  for  a  time. 
Now,  by  hurling  the  Hapsburg  ministers  from  the  window 
of  the  Council  Chamber,  Count  Thurn,  the  leader  of  the 
Bohemian  agitators,  suddenly  committed  the  country  to  a 
general  revolt. 

The  event  brought  Germany  face  to  face  with  the  civil 
war  which  had  been  long  foreseen.  In  its  actual  presence 
even  the  Bohemians  themselves  recoiled,  and  John  George 
of  Saxony  was  only  giving  expression  to  the  general 
feehng  when  he  announced  that  his  anxiety  was  to  ''help 
to  put  out  the  fire." 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  95 

But  to  this  general  feeling  there  was  one  important  ex- 
ception. By  the  Palatine  Cabinet,  strugghng  in  the  toils 
of  its  own  diplomacy,  the  Bohemian  insurrection  was  wel- 
comed as  a  fortunate  diversion.  With  redoubled  energy 
Frederic  and  his  councillors  began  once  more  fondly  to 
weave  across  Europe  their  tangle  of  political  intrigue.  At 
the  best  their  schemes  had  been  shifting  and  opportunist. 
Now  in  the  stress  of  the  crisis  Frederic  seemed  altogether 
to  lose  his  bearings.  His  plans  became  not  only  wild,  but 
contradictory.  For  instance,  while  on  the  one  hand  he 
undertook  to  act  as  mediator  in  conjunction  with  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  on  the  other  hand  it  was  he,  Frederic,  who 
repeatedly  dissuaded  the  Bohemians  from  coming  to  terms 
with  the  enemy.  Thus,  again,  in  June  161 9,  there  were 
two  Palatine  agents  in  Bohemia,  one  of  whom  was  publicly 
urging  the  Duke  of  Savoy's  election  to  the  vacant  crown, 
while  the  other  was  secretly  working  in  favour  of  Frederic 
himself.  ^ 

At  first  Frederic's  efforts  seemed  to  be  meeting  with  a 
certain  success.  It  was  thanks  chiefly  to  the  help  of  Mans- 
feld's  troops,  which  he  provided  in  co-operation  with  the 
Duke  of  Savoy,  that  the  Bohemians  were  able  in  16 18  to 
sweep  the  Austrian  army  almost  completely  from  Bohemia, 
and  in  the  spring  of  16 19  to  advance  up  to  the  very  walls 
of  Vienna.  The  Protestant  Union,  moreover,  had  been 
induced  by  Frederic  to  send  an  army  to  the  Upper  Pala- 
tinate; and  there  were  fair  expectations  that  greater  assis- 
tance might  be  contributed  by  his  other  allies. 

By  the  summer  of  1619,  however,  these  hopes  had 
been  for  the  most  part  falsified.  The  Duke  of  Savoy  was 
thinking  better  of  his  former  engagements.  James  was 
consuming  time   with  a  useless  embassy.     The  Protestants 

*     Gindely,  "  History  of  Thirty  Years'  War,"  vol.  i.,  p.  144. 


96  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  the  Union  were  falling  away.  The  Bohemians  themselves 
were  being  driven  back  on  Prague,  and  as  a  last  resource 
were  preparing  to  elect  some  foreigner  as  their  sovereign, 
who  should  extricate  them  from  their  difficulties. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Catholics  had  been  steadily  con- 
solidating their  strength ;  and  since  Matthias  had  fortunately 
died  in  the  March  of  1619,  they  were  confidently  looking 
forward  to  the  immediate  election  of  Ferdinand  as  Emperor. 

In  short,  a  year  and  a  halfs  ceaseless  negotiation  had 
only  succeeded  in  entangling  Frederic  in  a  worse  predi- 
cament than  that  in  which  he  had  been  at  the  outset.  He 
had  encouraged  the  Bohemians  to  revolt  for  his  own  ends, 
and  now  he  found  himself  involved  in  their  ruin.  Nor  was  it 
possible  to  expect  that  such  a  man  as  Ferdinand  would  ever 
forgive  him  for  the  part  which  he  had  recently  been  playing. 

And  so  during  the  month  of  August,  1619,  two  fateful 
assemblies  were  holding  their  sessions.  Few  can  have 
awaited  their  decisions  more  breathlessly  than  did  Elizabeth 
at  Heidelberg.  First  came  the  news  from  the  Electoral 
College  at  Frankfort:  on  the  28th,  Ferdinand  had  been 
unanimously  chosen  Emperor — the  Palatine  proctor  after 
vain  opposition  having  given  his  vote  with  the  others.  Then 
came  the  news  from  Prague :  the  day  before  Ferdinand  had 
been  chosen  Emperor,  Frederic  of  the  Palatinate  had  been 
elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority  to  the  Bohemian 
crown  which  had  so  lately  been  wrested  from  Ferdinand.  The 
long-drawn-out  crisis  had  culminated.  If  Frederic  refused 
the  offered  crown,  he  would  acknowledge  his  complete 
defeat  by  the  Catholics.  If  he  accepted  it,  nothing  could 
be  looked  for  but  open,  bitter  war,  until  one  of  the  two 
rivals  should  be  utterly  ruined. 

Frederic  realised  now,  when  it  was  too  late,  the  awkward- 
ness   of  the   dilemma.     On   hearing   the  news  at  Amberg 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  97 

he  at  once  wrote  off  to  Elizabeth.  **Les  Etats  de  Bo- 
heme, "  he  said,  **m'ont  eleu  unanimement  pour  leur  Roy, 
ont  fait  des  feux  de  joye,  tire  le  canon.  Croyees  que  je 
suis  bien  en  peine  a  quoy  me  resoudre."  ^  Although  Fre- 
deric could  persuade  himself  that  he  had  not  been  aiming 
at  the  Bohemian  crown,  he  knew  well  that  he  had  com- 
mitted himself  too  deeply,  to  be  able  now  to  draw  back 
with  safety. 

Everyone  was  aware  that  he  had  been  secretly  supporting 
the  Bohemians.  His  troops  had  actually  attacked  and 
scattered  a  Spanish  force  that  was  on  its  way  to  invade 
Bohemia.  If  he  were  now  to  desert  the  Bohemians,  he 
would  only  be  giving  their  common  enemy  an  opportunity 
to  crush  <each  of  them  in  detail.  Was  it  not,  then,  clearly 
t9  the  advantage  of  both  parties  that  they  should  unite 
their  forces,  and  that  over  these  united  forces  there  should 
be  one  common  leader — even  Frederic,  King  of  Bohemia, 
and  Elector  Palatine  ?  And  besides  the  question  of  expediency, 
was  not  Frederic  bound  in  honour  not  to  betray  in  the 
hour  of  their  danger  those  whom  he  had  encouraged  in 
their  daring  rebellion? 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  even  the  optimistic  Frederic  could 
not  disguise  from  himself  that  it  was  "a  very  hazardous 
affair;"  and  the  nearer  he  approached,  the  greater  did  the 
difficulties  appear.  The  Duke  of  Savoy  and  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  the  two  other  candidates  who  had  been  talked 
of  for  the  Bohemian  crown,  had  understood  the  real 
danger  and  emptiness  of  the  honour,  and  had  refused  to 
enter  the  trap  themselves.  The  Bohemians  had  chosen 
Frederic  because  "they  hoped  that  he  would  be  able  to 
induce  foreign  nations  to  do  that  for  them  which  they 
had  deplorably  failed  to  do  for  themselves."  ^     By  establish- 

^  Von  Aretin,  Beytrage,  vol.  vii.,  p.  148. 

3  Gardiner,  History  of  England,  vol.  iii.,  p.  315. 


98  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

ing  a  new  constitution  before  the  election,  they  had  arranged 
that  their  future  king  should  be  but  a  magnificent  menial: 
the  nobles  were  to  remain  the  masters,  and  were  to  be 
allowed  to  continue  their  misconduct  of  affairs.  Already 
it  was  becoming  clear  that  these  Bohemian  rebels,  who 
were  more  moved  by  their  personal  interests  than  by  true 
patriotism,  were  not  the  men  to  found  a  free  and  stable 
kingdom.  Moreover,  the  Heidelberg  councillors  were  begin- 
ning to  suspect  that  the  resources  and  allies  on  which  they 
had  been  wont  to  reckon,  would  appear  much  less  imposing 
when  politics  passed  from  paper  to  practice.  Now,  too,  they 
were  beginning  to  appreciate  the  dire  realities  that  would 
result  from  their  paper  schemes.  Frederic  was  to  indulge 
in  this  desperate  adventure  at  the  cost  of  plunging  all 
Germany,  perhaps  all  Europe,  into  war,  and  of  bringing 
almost  certain  desolation  upon  his  own  defenceless  Palatinate. 
Well  might  Frederic  hesitate.  He  was  distracted  with 
contradictory  advice.  From  Frankfort  the  assembled  Electors 
wrote  solemnly  warning  him  against  precipitating  a  war 
which  they  prophesied  would  outlast  their  lives.  Similar 
messages  poured  in  from  the  individual  Princes  of  Germany 
and  the  neutral  European  powers.  Even  the  Protestant 
Union  shrank  in  alarm  from  the  rash  enterprise  of  their 
leader,  and  stipulated  that  if  the  crown  were  accepted,  its 
own  troops  should  not  be  employed  to  defend  Frederic 
in  Bohemia.  Last  of  all  Louisa  Juliana  tearfully  implored 
her  son  not  to  accept  the  fatal  honour.  But  the  advice 
of  the  world  at  large  was  counteracted  by  the  influence  of 
a  few  persons  to  whom  Frederic  had  long  been  wont  to 
look  for  direction.  Christian  of  Anhalt,  already  appointed 
by  the  Bohemians  to  be  the  general  of  the  new  king, 
threatened  Frederic  with  perpetual  infamy  if  he  should  now 
draw  back  from  the  cause  of  Bohemia.  The  Dutch  Maurice 
declared   that  he  was  preparing  fool's  coats  for  those  who 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  99 

should  dissuade  his  nephew  from  the  undertaking.  The  Duke 
of  Bouillon  was  in  favour  of  Frederic's  joining  forces  with 
the  Bohemians,  but  he  wisely  recommended  him  not  to 
accept  the  invidious  title  of  King. 

The  Duke  of  Bouillon  had  laid  bare  the  real  crux  of  the 
question.  The  fate  of  Frederic  was  indeed  bound  up, 
for  better  or  for  worse,  with  the  fate  of  the  Bohemians. 
But  would  it  not  be  better  to  make  an  open  alliance  with 
them  without  accepting  their  crown?  By  so  doing,  he 
would  not  offend  the  Protestant  princes,  jealous  of  his 
elevation  to  royal  rank,  and  he  would  not  be  cutting  off 
all  hope  of  future  reconciliation  with  Ferdinand. 

That  Frederic  did  not  adopt  such  a  course  is  chiefly 
to  be  explained  by  the  personal  characteristics  of  himself 
and  his  wife,  by  their  zealous  Calvinism  and  their  passion 
for  social  enjoyments  and  social  distinctions. 

When  Elizabeth  heard  of  the  election,  she  at  once  wrote 
to  Frederic  putting  before  him  the  reHgious  aspect  of  the 
crisis.  She  said  that,  since  God  directs  everything  and  had 
so  ordained,  she  left  it  to  her  husband  to  decide  whether 
the  crown  should  be  accepted.  She  herself — the  letter  con- 
tinued— would  be  ready  to  follow  the  Divine  call,  and 
thereby  to  suffer  what  God  should  ordain, — yes,  she  was 
ready,  if  it  were  necessary,  even  to  pawn  her  jewels,  and 
whatever  else  she  had  in  the  world.  This  view  of  the  elec- 
tion as  being  a  Divine  call  was  constantly  urged  on  the 
Elector  and  Electress  by  the  Calvinist  clergy,  both  in  Eng- 
land and  in  the  Palatinate. 

It  was  on  this  ground  that  Frederic  ultimately  justified 
his  decision.  He  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Bouillon :  *'  I 
beg  you  to  believe  that  this  resolution  does  not  proceed 
from   any   ambitious   desire   to  aggrandize  my  House;  but 

that  my  only  end  is  to  serve  God  and  His  Church It 

is  a  Divine  call  which  I  ought  not  to  neglect." 


loo  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Although  Frederic  liked  to  shift  his  own  responsibility 
on  to  Providence,  he  was  very  far  from  being  insensible 
to  the  attractive  glitter  of  the  crown  itself.  Ever  since  he 
had  married  a  king's  daughter,  there  had  been  strange 
rumours  that  he  would  one  day  gain  for  her  the  royal 
dignity. 

To  Elizabeth  herself  the  new  rank  must  have  been  par- 
ticularly welcome.  She  had  been  bred  up  to  expect  that 
one  day  she  would  become  a  Queen.  Even  if  her  mother's 
taunts  at  the  "  Good  wife  Palsgrave"  had  ceased  to  rankle 
in  her  mind,  she  could  not  have  been  Mind  to  the  fact 
that  those  disputes  as  to  precedence  which  were  spoiHng 
her  enjoyment  of  German  society,  could  apparently  be 
settled  in  no  other  way  than  in  this  which  had  now  pre- 
sented itself. 

Yet  Elizabeth's  part  in  determining  her  husband's  action 
has  lately  been  questioned.  ^  Such  a  point  as  the  personal 
influence  of  a  wife  on  a  husband  it  is  as  impossible  to 
prove  as  to  disprove.  However,  the  Httle  evidence  that  is 
extant  seems  to  agree  best  with  the  traditional  view  which 
ascribed  an  important  part  to  the  young  Electress.  It  has 
been  seen  that  Elizabeth  urged  on  Frederic  the  religi- 
ous standpoint  which  he  ultimately  adopted.  It  has  also 
been  made  clear  that  she  had  very  strong  motives  for  de- 
siring the  crown.  Her  readiness  to  sell  her  jewels  was 
the  common  talk  of  the  time — and  a  woman  like  Elizabeth, 
who  was  accustomed  to  cover  herself  with  precious  stones 
after  the  manner  of  a  Russian  Icon,  could  not  have  ex- 
pressed more  forcibly  her  devotion  to  a  cause.    Moreover, 


1  Opel  in  Sybel's  Historische  Zeitschrift,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  294;  Article  on 
Elizabeth,  in  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  by  Prof.  Ward.  The  latter 
attaches  importance  to  a  statement  of  Elizabeth's  grand-daughter,  whose 
evidence  as  to  the  youth  of  her  grand-mother  surely  cannot  be  "  unexcep- 
tionable," as  he  maintains. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOtlEMLA^      :'    .':''?    idi  ' 

Frederic  was  ever  a  devoted,  almost  an  uxorious  hus- 
band ;  and  it  is  at  least  consistent  with  general  probability 
that  he  should  have  been  influenced  on  this,  as  he  cer- 
tainly was  on  later  occasions,  by  the  virile,  decisive  com- 
mon-sense of  his  wife.  There  is  one  piece  of  evidence 
in  which  it  is  possible  to  touch  the  solid  ground  of  fact. 
Elizabeth  was  especially  thanked  by  the  Bohemian  represen- 
tatives for  her  efforts  in  persuading  her  husband  to  his 
decision ;  and  these  thanks  were  gratefully  accepted  by  her. 
Lastly,  there  is  the  picturesque  tradition  which  is  preserved 
in  histories  written  at  the  end  of  the  17th  century.  The 
account  of  Elizabeth  begging  the  Elector  day  and  night 
not  to  deprive  their  children  of  a  crown,  cannot  be  other 
than  a  gross  exaggeration;  but  when  she  is  said  to  have 
vowed  that  ''she  would  rather  eat  pickled  cabbage  (sauer- 
kraut) at  a  king's  table  than  dainties  at  that  of  an  elector," 
we  seem  to  have  either  a  touch  of  the  real  Elizabeth  or 
else  a  good  imitation  of  the  impetuous  forcible  speeches 
that  were  entirely  characteristic  of  her. 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  it  seems  probable  that  while 
Frederic  could  not  desert  the  Bohemians  with  either  safety 
or  honour,  Elizabeth  had  a  large  share — though  one  that 
cannot  be  accurately  measured — in  urging  her  husband 
to  his  fatal  decision  of  accepting  their  crown.  If  this  is 
the  case,  our  English  Princess  must  also  bear  some  of  the 
responsibility  for  the  horrors  of  the  following  Thirty  Years' 
War.^ 

Though  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  were  involving  Germany 
in   a  war  to  the  death,   their  sin  was  but  thoughtlessness. 


*  For  the  question  of  the  Bohemian  election,  vide  (in  addition  to  the 
ordinary  biographies  of  Elizabeth)  Gindely,  Geschichte,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  227 — 234; 
Soltl,  vol.  i.,  pp.  149 — 157;  Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  306 — 313;  Menzel,  Neuere 
Geschichte,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  339 — 348;  Gardiner,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  309 — 311  ;  Span- 
heim,  Memoires  de  Louyse  Juliane,  pp.  136 — 140. 


Voi'"  ' ''''  '-*  *'  •  ••:^PVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

In  their  own  minds  they  fondly  imagined  that  they  were 
acting  for  the  best.  The  toy  pageants  of  court  life  they 
could  understand,  but  in  serious  politics  they  quickly  found 
themselves  out  of  their  depths.  As  for  Elizabeth  she  was 
about  to  play  at  being  queen  in  Bohemia,  much  as  she 
had  played  at  being  queen  at  Combe  Abbey.  As  for 
Frederic,  Camerarius  wrote  **Pfalz  machet  die  Sache  sich 
selbst  leicht,  und  setzet  AUes  auf  Gott  und  gute  Hofif- 
nung."^  On  August  13th,  "Pfalz"  had  remarked  in  a 
gossipy  letter  to  Elizabeth,  that  Ferdinand  in  seeking  to 
gain  one  crown  would  very  likely  lose  two.  ^  And  with 
similar  jocosity  had  the  Electress  notified  Ferdinand's  elec- 
tion to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton :  **  They  have  chosen  here  a 
blinde  Emperour,  for  he  hath  but  one  eye,  and  that  not 
very  good.  I  am  afrayed  he  will  be  lowsie,  for  he  hath 
not  monie  to  buy  himself  cloths."^ 

Frederic's  hesitation  as  to  the  Bohemian  crown  lasted 
for  some  four  weeks.  At  first  he  had  replied  to  the  Bohe- 
mian Estates  that  he  could  not  accept  their  proposal  until  he 
had  received  from  England  the  consent  of  his  father-in-law. 
But  before  his  envoy  to  James  could  have  returned,  the  Bohe- 
mians sent  to  press  for  an  immediate  acceptance,  privately 
hinting  that  they  might  be  forced  to  look  elsewhere  for  a 
king  if  the  Elector  did  not  close  with  their  offer  immedi- 
ately. Thereupon  Frederic  decided  to  meet  the  Bohemian 
delegates  without  waiting  for  James's  consent,  being  assured 
by  all  that  the  English  King  would  not  desert  his  daughter ; 
and  Elizabeth  insisted  on  accompanying  her  husband. 

When  it  came  to  the  point  of  actually  saying  farewell 
to    Heidelberg,  the  home  of  their  peaceful  and  prosperous 

1  Camerarius  to  the  Chancellor  at  Heidelberg,  Oct.  6th,  1620,  quoted  in 
Menzel,  vol.  vi.,  p.  348,  n. 

'  Bromley's  Collection  of  Royal  Letters,  p.  2. 

9  Gardiner,  Letters  and  Documents,  Second  Series,  p.   i. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  103 

married  life,  their  spirits  were  overwhelmed  by  the  solemnity 
of  their  undertaking  and  the  terrible  uncertainty  of  the 
future.  Sunday,  the  26th  of  September,  was  spent  in 
religious  devotion  and  the  hearing  of  sermons.  The  next 
morning,  at  8  o'clock,  "these  princely  personages" — so 
wrote  the  Rev.  John  Harrison,  an  Englishman  who  wit- 
nessed the  scene — "with  their  train,  in  their  coaches,  and 
some  on  horses  and  wagons,  without  any  vain  pomp  or 
ostentation,  but  rather  tears  in  their  eyes  lifted  up  to 
heaven,  quietly  departed — And  no  heart  but  would  have 
been  ravished  to  have  seen  the  sweet  demeanour  of  that 
great  lady  at  her  departure,  with  tears  trickling  down  her 
cheeks,  so  mild,  courteous  and  affable,  (yet  with  a  princely 
reservation  so  well  becoming  so  great  a  majesty)  like 
another  Queen  Elizabeth,  revived  also  again  in  her  the 
only  Phoenix  of  the  world."  * 

As  the  long  procession  moved  away,  Louisa  Juliana 
(who  was  to  be  left  at  Heidelberg  in  charge  of  Frederic's 
two  youngest  children)  watched  sorrowfully  from  a  window. 
"Achl"  she  cried,  "nun  zieht  die  Pfalz  nach  Bohmen." 

At  Waldsassen,  on  the  borders  of  the  Upper  Palatinate 
and  Bohemia,  the  Princes  were  greeted  by  the  delegates  of 
their  new  kingdom  in  18  coaches.  After  the  conditions  of 
Frederic's  rule  had  been  finally  arranged,  the  leisurely 
journey  was  continued ;  and  Prague  was  at  last  reached 
on  October  31st.  It  was  long  since  the  Bohemian  capital 
had  enjoyed  a  pageant  so  magnificent  as  this  royal  entry. 
Frederic's  subjects,  new  and  old,  and  his  Dutch  mercen- 
aries; cavalry,  infantry,  and  nobles,  all  in  gorgeous  uni- 
forms: the  king  himself  on  his  charger,  his  person  well 
set  off  by  a  suit  gf  dark  brown  and  silver:  the  Queen  in  a 
carriage  embroidered  with  silver  and  gold,  with  liveries  of 

1  Harrison,  Relation  of  the  Departure  of  Prince  Frederic,  16 19. 


I04  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

violet-coloured  velvet:  a  red  satin  carriage  containing  the 
Countess  of  Solms,  Stewardess  of  the  Court;  yet  more 
carriages  with  Prince  Frederic  Henry,  and  the  rest  of  the 
royal  suite,  and  again  more  uniforms  containing  more 
soldiers — such  was  the  procession  which  wound  slowly 
through  the  city  to  the  royal  palace,  the  massive  Hradschin 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Moldau.  Equally  elaborate  and 
equally  costly  were  the  ceremonials  of  November  4th  and 
7th,  when  first  Frederic  and  then  EHzabeth  were  solemnly 
crowned  and  anointed.  The  Bohemians  were  jubilant  at 
having  once  again  a  king  of  their  own  choosing. 

Yet  all  the  regal  robes  and  the  holy  oil  of  Prague  could 
give  no  more  to  Frederic  than  the  outward  semblance  of 
kingship.  And  this  was  generally  perceived,  in  spite  of 
the  blind  rejoicings  of  the  Bohemians.  *'This  prince  has 
entered  into  a  fine  labyrinth!"  had  been  the  Pope's  remark 
when  he  heard  of  Frederic's  decision.  Camerarius,  the 
Palatine  minister,  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  at  Prague, 
had  to  confess  that  the  Pope  had  indeed  spoken  the  truth. 
"  Omnia  enim  sunt  in  confusione.  The  Exchequer  is  empty, 
and  everything  in  a  ruinous  condition."  ^  The  Jesuits 
had  prophesied  that  Frederic  would  be  but  a  "  Winter 
King;"  that  he  would  go  with  the  snow.  "Fools"  was 
the  epithet  which  Ferdinand  had  applied  to  his  revolted 
subjects  when  he  heard  that  they  had  elected  Frederic. 

All  this  contempt  was  but  too  well  grounded,  Frederic 
found  everywhere  predominant  among  his  new  subjects 
divisions,  selfishness,  and  disorder.  The  various  territories 
of  which  the  kingdom  was  composed  were  but  half-hearted 
in  their  recognition  of  the  common  interests.  Silesia, 
Moravia,  Lusatia,  each  was  jealous  of  its  own  provin- 
cial   independence,    each    anxious   to    reduce   its    share    in 

'  Menzel,  vol,  vi.,  p.  340,  note. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  105 

the  common  burden.  Nor  was  there  even  a  strong 
rehgious  bond  of  union  in  the  country.  Though  the  Catho- 
lics were  only  a  very  small  minority  of  the  population,  the 
Protestants  were  split  into  two  sections:  those  who  repre- 
sented the  former  Utraquist  party,  were  now  not  unlike 
the  Lutherans;  the  others,  called  the  "  Bohemian  Brethren," 
were  descended  from  the  older  Taborites  and,  from  their 
extremer  Puritanism,  had  more  in  common  with  the  Calvin- 
ists.  A  yet  more  fatal  division  was  that  between  the 
classes.  The  great  nobles  who  had  begun  the  revolt,  were 
anxious  that  the  towns  should  entirely  finance  the  under- 
taking. The  towns  objected  and  were  jealous  of  the  nobles' 
monopoly  of  the  government.  The  peasants  who  in  the 
Hussite  wars  had,  as  freemen,  risen  of  their  own  accord  to 
defeat  all  the  armies  of  Germany,  were  being  reduced  to 
the  condition  of  serfs ;  and  hence  during  the  critical  period 
of  the  invasion  of  1620  many  of  the  nobles  were  occupied 
in  repressing  the  agricultural  risings  of  those  whom  they 
ought  to  have  been  leading  against  the  foreign  enemy. 
The  truth  is  that  this  Bohemian  revolt  of  the  1 7th  century 
was  only  a  national  and  religious  movement,  in  so  far  as 
the  interests  of  the  nation  and  of  religion  had  been  iden- 
tified with  the  interests  of  a  few  individuals.  The  want  of 
a  common  sympathy  in  the  nation  was  the  more  disastrous, 
since  the  country  had  brought  forth  no  great  leader — no 
Zizka,  or  Podebrad,  as  in  former  times.  Thurn,  who  had 
instigated  the  revolt,  was  neither  a  general  nor  a  statesman. 
He  was  a  bold  adventurer,  a  man  who  had  scarcely  learnt 
to  speak  the  Bohemian  language.  Without  the  necessary 
dictator,  the  Bohemians  had  no  clear  method  either  in  the 
field  or  in  the  administration.  The  various  armies  wandered 
about  **veluti  in  turba  cyclopica."  ^     The  war  taxes  which 

1  Menzel,   yol.  vi.,  p.  342. 


io6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

had  been  voted  by  the  Estates  were  uncollected,  and  the 
mercenaries  who  were  called  in  to  take  the  place  of  the 
free  fighters  of  the  15th  century,  were,  on  account  of  the 
non-payment  of  their  wages,  in  a  state  of  chronic  mutiny. 

Such  was  the  chaos  out  of  which  Frederic  would  have 
to  create  order  and  victory.  Even  a  born  ruler  of  men 
could  scarcely  have  avoided  failure  where  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  of  disinterested  enthusiasm  was  so  rare.  What 
then  could  be  expected  of  Frederic,  the  courtly  dilettante, 
the  well-meaning  blunderer;  Frederic  who  to  the  Bohemi- 
ans was  a  German  and  a  foreigner,  and  whom  the  jealous 
nobles  had  invited  to  reign  rather  than  to  rule? 

The  country  had  happily  been  removed  from  the  fear  of 
immediate  disaster  during  the  winter  of  161 9 — 20.  Bouc- 
quoi,  the  general  who  had  been  leading  the  Imperialist 
invasion,  had  shortly  after  Frederic's  election  been  suddenly 
recalled  to  defend  Vienna  against  Bethlen  Gabor,  Prince 
of  Transylvania. 

This  hero  of  forty-two  battles  was  playing  with  great  success 
in  Hungary  a  part  similar  to  that  which  was  being  attempted 
by  Frederic  in  Bohemia.  Thus  he  was  a  really  effective 
ally  to  the  Bohemians,  and  by  drawing  off  Boucquoi,  left 
them  free  to  reorganise  the  country  in  readiness  for  the 
attack  which  would  certainly  be  renewed  by  the  Imperialists 
and  their  allies  in  the  spring.  Already  preparations  for 
driving  out  the  Winter  King  resounded  from  Germany, 
and   from   the  Spanish  lands,  from  Italy  and  from  Poland. 

In  spite  of  the  cloud  which  was  hanging  over  the  kingdom, 
the  winter  was  passed  by  the  Bohemians  without  much 
outward  concern.  At  Prague  the  court  was  gay  and  ani- 
mated. Here  there  lay  before  the  King  and  Queen  an 
obvious  task — to  establish  their  position  in  the  hearts  of 
their  new  subjects.  The  day  after  their  entry  into  Prague, 
Elizabeth  told  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  in  a  hurried  letter 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  107 

that  they   had    been   "  received  with  a  great  show  of  love 
of  all  sortes  of  people."  ^ 

After  a  time,  however,  evidences  of  their  popularity  be- 
came rarer.  The  Bohemians  were  indeed  delighted  when, 
on  Dec.  6th,  a  Prince  was  born  among  them,  who  was 
to  grow  up  to  be  the  Cavalier  Rupert  of  English  History. 
In  the  following  spring  the  Estates  were  persuaded  to 
nominate  Prince  Frederic  Henry  to  the  succession,  and 
to  settle  on  the  royal  family  various  lands  and  revenues, 
as  though  a  dynasty  were  commencing  which  might  last 
for  centuries.  But  on  the  whole,  Frederic  and  Elizabeth 
were  unsuccessful  in  winning  the  love  and  loyalty  of  their 
new  subjects.  Very  possibly  their  ejection  in  1620  by  the 
Hapsburgs  may  have  saved  them  from  a  troubled  reign 
with  a  yet  more  ignominious  ending. 

The  history  of  the  Winter  King  and  Queen  is  largely 
composed  of  the  misunderstandings  with  their  subjects — 
misunderstandings  that  are  often  apparently  trivial.  The 
Queen  and  her  ladies  were  the  first  to  incur  criticism. 
They  were  complete  foreigners,  and  were  content  to 
remain  such.  Even  conversation  with  the  ladies  of  Bohemia 
was  impossible:  the  one  party  could  speak  no  Czech  and 
but  clumsy  German,  the  other  neither  French  nor  English. 
Elizabeth's  happy-go-lucky  character  was  discovered  by 
the  Praguers  within  four  days  of  her  arrival.  Gossip  said 
she  was  sometimes  an  hour  late  for  church  and  meals. 
Moreover,  the  Bohemian  ladies  were  scandalized  by  the 
foreigners'  low-necked  dresses ;  and  what  was  especially 
galling,  was  the  impression  that  the  English  women  were 
often  laughing  at  the  homely  ways  of  Bohemia.  When 
the  goodwives  of  Prague  brought  the  Queen  a  present  of 
some  of  their  home-made  cakes,  they  were  greatly  offended 

1    Hist.  MS.  Com.,  loth  Report.  App.  i.,  p.  90. 


io8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

to  see  the  court  ladies  exchanging  ill-mannered  jokes  at  their 
gift.  Elizabeth,  indeed,  had  the  tact  to  shake  hands  in 
British  fashion  and  to  thank  them  for  their  present  in  a 
few  words  of  Czeck.  But  in  private  she  could  be  as  dis- 
dainful of  her  new  subjects,  as  any  of  her  ladies.  ^ 

Then  Frederic  also  lost  his  popularity.  The  Praguers 
criticized  all  his  endeavours  to  win  their  affection,  his 
absence  of  pomp,  the  simple  hunting  dress  in  which  he 
sometimes  appeared  in  public  attended  by  only  a  single 
servant,  his  condescension  in  mingling  with  the  nobility 
on  terms  almost  of  equality,  his  dancing  with  their  daugh- 
ters, and  his  unkingly  capers  of  delight  when  he  heard  of 
the  birth  of  Rupert.  They  observed  also  his  real  faults — 
especially  the  want  of  independence  in  his  character.  The 
nobles  had  small  reverence  for  this  king  who  had  always 
to  consult  his  Palatine  advisers,  and  who  spent  most  of  his 
time  in  the  company  of  his  wife. 

His  strong  religious  views  were  a  more  serious  cause 
of  offence.  At  the  instigation  of  his  chaplain,  Scultetus, 
and  possibly  of  Thurn,  Frederic  caused  all  the  ''idolatrous 
abominations"  to  be  torn  down  from  the  palace  chapel. 
The  Lutherans  were  almost  as  enraged  as  the  Catholics 
when  they  saw  their  national  pictures  and  relics  ruthlessly 
destroyed.  Then  on  a  report  being  spread  abroad  that  the 
weather-beaten  statues  of  Bohemian  saints  on  the  bridge 
across  the  Moldau  were  also  being  threatened,  the  Praguers 
assumed  such  an  intimidating  aspect  that  the  court  at  once 
repented  of  its  intended  vandalism.  The  new  government 
wasted  over  these,  and  other  religious  reformations,  such 
as  the  stricter  observance  of  the  sabbath,  the  care  which 
should  have  been  wholly  devoted  to  the  work  of  political 
reorganisation ;    and   by   these   means,   in  spite  of  all  their 

^  Gindely,  Geschichte,  vol.  ii.,  p.  25 1;    Hausser,  vol.  ii.,  p.  318. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  109 

good  intentions,  they  simply  added  to  the  general  confusion. 

Throughout  this  winter  while  the  court  at  Prague  was 
continuing  its  daily  round  of  ceremonies  and  huntings, 
and  the  usual  serious  and  frivolous  occupations,  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  were  being  canvassed  and  counter-can- 
vassed by  Frederic's  envoys  and  those  of  his  enemies. 
It  was  clear  that  the  fate  of  the  new  King  would  depend 
on  the  failure  or  success  of  these  negotiations.  What  had 
recommended  Frederic  to  the  Bohemians,  had  been  the 
hope  of  securing  the  active  support  of  his  large  circle  of 
allies.  Now,  however,  that  the  time  had  come  for  realising 
these  hopes,  both  Frederic  and  the  Bohemians  were  bit- 
terly disillusioned. 

At  last,  too  late,  Frederic  made  a  serious  effort  to  combine 
the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  of  Germany  in  the  defence  of 
their  common  interests.  When  he  called  a  joint  assembly 
to  Nuremberg  in  the  autumn  of  16 19,  the  Lutheran  Princes 
were  so  much  disgusted  with  him  for  having  shaken  the  found- 
ations of  all  authority,  that  they  did  not  even  answer  his  sum- 
mons. Even  the  Princes  of  the  Protestant  Union,  annoyed 
with  Frederic  for  precipitating  the  conflict,  and  jealous  of 
the  personal  aggrandizement  which  he  had  thus  secured, 
now  stopped  his  monthly  pay  as  their  commander  and 
confined  their  promise  of  support  to  the  protection  of  the 
Palatinate.  In  the  following  July,  the  Union  made  a  treaty 
with  Maximilian  of  Bavaria  at  Ulm ;  in  it  they  carried  their 
desertion  of  Frederic's  cause  still  further;  for  while  they 
promised  the  Imperialist  troops  a  free  field  in  Bohemia, 
they  did  not  insist  on  a  corresponding  guarantee  that  the 
Palatinate  should  not  be  invaded  by  the  Spaniards. 

The  English  alliance  had  been  the  other  trump  card  in 
Frederic's  hand.  James's  senile  diplomacy  during  the  crisis 
is  well  known.  Influenced  in  one  direction  by  his  own 
family  affection,  by  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  and  by  the 


no  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

pressure  of  popular  opinion;  and  influenced  in  the  other 
direction  by  his  own  sluggish,  peace-loving  temperament,  by 
his  abhorrence  of  anything  approaching  revolution,  by 
annoyance  that  the  Bohemian  crown  had  been  accepted 
without  waiting  for  his  advice,  and  by  his  partiality  for 
things  Spanish,  **the  Wisest  Fool  in  Christendom"  ever 
hesitated  to  take  any  firm  step  in  either  direction,  ever 
attempted  to  put  off  the  evil  hour  of  decision  by  pedantic 
enquiries  into  the  legal  aspects  of  the  quarrel,  and  by 
marshalling  futile  embassies  for  peace  where  there  could  be 
no  peace.  All  that  could  be  tediously  extorted  from  James 
was  a  permission  that  voluntary  troops  and  contributions 
might  be  unofficially  levied  in  England,  and  an  unsubstantial 
promise  that  "howsoever  he  meddle  not  with  the  matter 
of  Bohemia,  yet  he  [would]  prepare  with  all  speed  that 
may  be  to  succour  those  that  are  so  neere  unto  him  for 
the  defence  and  recoverie  of  their  patrimonie."  * 

When  their  own  father  was  thus  lukewarm  to  the  cause 
of  the  Palatines,  the  other  friendly  states  such  as  Denmark, 
Venice,  and  Switzerland  were  clearly  exonerated  from  active 
interference.  In  fact  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  that  most  accurate  of 
weathercocks,  turned  completely  round,  and  now  offered  an 
army  for  the  support  of  the  Emperor  in  his  ''righteous" 
war.  And  so,  although  Frederic  appealed  even  to  the  Sultan 
himself,  the  only  assistance  from  his  allies  that  he  actually 
received,  was  a  monthly  subsidy  from  the  Dutch,  and  the 
co-operation  in  arms  of  the  rebel  Protestants  of  Hungary 
and  Austria. 

Ferdinand,  on  the  other  hand,  was  as  fortunate  with  his 
alliances  as  Frederic  was  unsuccessful.  The  Pope,  the 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  the  King  of  Poland  assisted  him 
with   money   or  with  men.     France,  contrary  to  her  usual 

1  Buckingham  to  Sir  Edward  Herbert,  29th  Sep.  1620,  Hist.  MS.  Com.,  loth 
Report,  App.  i.,  p.  106. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  iii 

European  policy,  supported  him  for  the  moment  with  her 
great  influence.  Spain,  while  amusing  James  with  negotia- 
tions, prepared  an  army  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  which, 
under  the  command  of  Spinola,  was  to  reduce  the  Palatinate. 
In  Germany  itself  circumstances  proved  equally  favourable 
to  the  Austrian  interest.  Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  the  leader 
of  the  Catholic  League,  was  bribed  to  make  the  Em- 
peror's cause  his  own  by  the  promise  that  the  lands 
and  Electoral  dignity  of  Frederic  should  be  transferred 
to  the  Bavarian  house.  In  July,  a  similar  offer  won  over 
the  Lutheran  John  George  of  Saxony,  who  undertook 
to  attack  the  Calvinist  usurper  in  his  northern  territories 
while   the  Catholics  marched  against  him  from  the  South. 

Throughout  the  spring  the  League  had  been  steadily 
arming.  By  the  close  of  July,  Maximilian's  formidable  army 
was  ready  to  begin  its  advance.  First  the  Protestants  of 
Upper  Austria  were  crushed.  Then  came  the  turn  of  the 
Lower  Austrians,  who  in  vain  had  conferred  on  Frederic 
the  title  of  '*  Protector."  In  September,  Maximilian  united 
with  Boucquoi,  the  general  of  Ferdinand's  army,  who  had 
been  carrying  on  a  desultory  war  throughout  the  summer. 
On  the  20th  their  combined  forces  crossed  the  Bohemian 
frontier. 

Meanwhile  in  Bohemia  itself  the  armies  had  been  mutiny- 
ing for  want  of  pay;  the  generals  had  been  quarrelling; 
and  Prague,  crowded  with  officers  who  should  have  been  at 
the  head  of  their  soldiers  in  the  field,  had  been  sparkling 
with  regal  ceremonials  and  festivity. 

To  the  outside  world  Prague  might  appear  unconcerned : 
but  the  hearts  of  those  in  its  high  places  were  every  week 
becoming  heavier  from  the  apprehension  of  the  hopelessness 
of  their  case.  The  ministers  in  their  desperation  now  began 
to  think  of  those  reforms  which  earlier  might  have  retrieved 
the  situation.     As  for  the  King  and  Queen  themselves,  we  can 


112  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

discover  their  state  of  mind  from  their  numerous  letters  of 
the  period.  Some  of  these  are  urgent  entreaties  to  James 
and  those  who  could  influence  him  in  England.  But  the 
most  illuminating  correspondence  is  that  of  Frederic  to  his 
wife  during  his  two  separations  from  her;  firstly,  in  the 
spring  of  1620,  when  he  was  making  a  progress  through 
Moravia  and  Silesia  to  confirm  these  provinces  in  their 
allegiance ;  and  secondly,  when,  after  the  Imperialist  invasion, 
he  had  joined  his  army  in  the  field.  It  is  evident  from 
these  letters  that  the  gay  face  Elizabeth  was  showing  to 
the  world  only  hid  an  anxious  and  dejected  spirit.  Again 
and  again  Frederic  has  to  entreat  his  wife  to  remember 
her  promise  not  to  give  way  to  *'  melancholic  ".  It  is  indeed 
a  reversal  of  their  usual  parts;  but  Frederic's  trouble  is 
largely  distracted  by  the  incidents  of  the  journey  or  the 
camp ;  while  Elizabeth  has  to  sit  at  home  apprehensive  for 
his  safety. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  the  correspondence  is  the 
genuine,  tender  affection  which  now  existed  between 
the  King  and  Queen.  Evidently  their  common  troubles 
have  drawn  them  closer  than  ever  together.  They  write 
to  each  other  three  or  four  times  a  week,  sometimes  even 
twice  in  one  day.  Elizabeth  is  always  his  "cher  unique 
coeur".  He  "kisses  her  mouth  a  million  times  in  imagina- 
tion"— and  so  forth.  He  tries  to  amuse  her  with  bits  of 
personal  gossip  or  the  descriptions  of  dresses,  or  to  cheer 
her  with  the  prospect  of  their  happily  hunting  together 
some  day  in  Moravia. 

In  the  second  batch  of  letters,  however,  Frederic's  tone 
becomes  less  hopeful,  and  more  predominantly  religious. 
But  he  is  still  the  anxious  husband  and  the  comforter.  Thus, 
shortly  before  the  battle  of  the  White  Mountain,  he  writes : 
"Croy^s  que  je  ne  vous  feray  partir  de  Prague  qu'il 
n'en   soit   besoin,   car  je   vous   desire  plus   la   qu'en  autre 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  113 

lieu,  mais  la  necessite  le  requerrant  il  se  faut  resoudre,  et 
si  je  n'avois  plus  soin  de  vous  que  vous  pouves  en  avoir 
de  vous  meme,  vous  vous  pourries  precipiter  en  un  danger 
lequel  tout  le  monde  regretteroit.  Pour  Dieu  done  ne  me 
paries  plus  comme  faites  en  ces  deux  lettres,  s'il  plait  h 
Dieu  nous  nous  verrons  encore  force  annees."  ^  Frederic's 
fear  for  the  Queen's  safety  in  Prague  was  unfortunately 
justified.  The  Bohemian  army,  mutinous  and  disheartened, 
had  fallen  steadily  back  before  the  advancing  Imperialists. 
There  was  small  hope  of  defending  the  capital.  Yet  Eliza- 
beth remained  "  ful  of  courage,"  "  and  in  spite  of  all  entreaties 
refused  to  stir.  "Her  Majesty,"  wrote  Nethersole,  the  Eng- 
lish Agent,  "out  of  the  rare  and  admirable  love  to  the 
King  her  husband,  to  whom  she  feareth  that  her  removing 
for  her  own  safety  might  be  the  occasion  of  much  danger, 
by  discouraging  the  hearts  of  the  people  when  his  Majesty 
goeth  to  the  army,  and,  it  might  be,  by  other  worse  effects ; 
her  Majesty,  I  say  and  merely  in  this  consideration,  is 
irremoveably  resolved  to  abide  in  this  town  which  God  bless. 
It  were  a  pleasant  thing ...  to  recount  the  loving  conflicts 
that  have  been  between  their  Majesties  upon  this  occasion."  ^ 
By  the  close  of  October  the  two  armies  were  lying  op- 
posite each  other  at  Rakonitz,  a  few  miles  from  Prague. 
''There  are  daily  skirmishes,"  wrote  Nethersole,  "and  we 
can  in  this  town  hear  the  cannon  play,  day  and  night, 
which  was  enough  to  fright  another  queen.  Her  Majesty 
is  nothing  troubled  therewith ;  but  would  be,  if  she  should 
hear  how  often  there  have  been  men  killed  very  near  the 
King,  with  the  cannon,  and  how  much  he  adventureth  his 
person  further  than  he  is  commended  for."  ^ 

1  Aretin,  Beytrage,  vol.  vii.,  p.  169. 

2  Germany   (States),   Conway's  and  Weston's  Despatch,    Oct.  13/23,  1620. 

3  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  336. 
^  Ibid.,  vol.  v.,  p.  342. 

8 


114  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

On  the  5th  of  November  the  Imperialists  suddenly  decamp- 
ed, and  made  a  dash  for  Prague.  The  Bohemians  marched 
after  them  in  desperate  haste.  On  November  7th  they  just 
succeeded  in  interposing  themselves  between  the  enemy 
and  the  capital.  Anhalt  and  the  army  camped  for  the 
night  on  the  White  Mountain,  three  miles  outside  the  city. 
The  King  himself  pressed  on  to  Prague  in  order  to  see 
his  wife  and  make  arrangements  for  her  safety.  It  was 
three  in  the  afternoon  when  he  appeared  at  court,  and 
''with  a  countenance  of  glee"  gave  a  reassuring  account 
of  the  situation.  Accordingly,  the  night  was  passed  in 
security  "as  free  from  doubt  as  we  supposed  ourselves 
quit  from  danger."^ 

Early  the  next  morning,  a  Sunday  morning,  came  Anhalt, 
and  begged  the  king  to  cheer  the  army  with  his  presence 
in  the  battle  which  now  was  imminent.  F'rederic,  however, 
disbelieved  in  the  intended  attack  of  the  enemy,  and  was 
resolved  to  entertain  at  dinner  Conway  and  Weston,  the 
useless  ambassadors  of  peace  from  England.  So  it  happened 
that  about  noon,  just  as  the  companies  of  Imperialist  pike- 
men  and  musketeers  were  advancing  up  the  slopes  of  the 
White  Mountain  to  throw  themselves  upon  the  Bohemians 
and  Hungarians  drawn  up  along  its  crest,  the  Bohemian  King 
in  his  neighbouring  palace  was  sitting  down  with  Elizabeth 
and  her  father's  peace-makers,  to  dine.  At  table  they 
resolved  that  they  would  afterwards  visit  the  army,  the 
Queen  to  be  escorted  by  the  envoys.  But  while  yet  '*at 
their  cups"  came  the  news  that  the  enemy  had  begun  the 
attack.  The  dinner  was  ended,  and  the  king  at  the  head 
of  500  horse  started  off  for  the  field. 

As  the  party  neared  the  city  gate,  however,  a  sight 
which    told    its    own   tale   met  their   eyes — the   Bohemian 

1  "Relation  of  the  loss  of  Prague,  by  an  Englishman  there  and  then 
present."     Harl.  MS.  389,  f.  i. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  115 

troops  surging  from  the  White  Mountain  in  hopeless  panic, 
and  in  their  midst  the  three  generals,  Anhalt,  Thurn,  and 
Hohenlohe.  The  fray — it  had  not  deserved  the  name  of 
battle — had  scarcely  lasted  an  hour.  The  Bohemians  had 
fled  disgracefully,  leaving  all  their  cannon  and  some  2,000 
dead  on  the  field.  They  continued  their  flight  through  the 
city,  and  "the  bruite  came  running  in  the  mouths  of 
those  that  ranne  away  that  the  enemy  pursued  to  the  porte 
and  entred  there."  ^ 

Frederic,  when  he  saw  the  men  who  had  a  few  hours 
previously  formed  his  army,  rushing  past  him  to  put  the 
Moldau  between  themselves  and  the  enemy,  at  once  thought 
of  his  Queen,  and  despatched  a  servant  to  bid  her  follow 
the  general  example,  and  seek  safety  in  the  Altstadt  on 
the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  The  message  reached  Eliza- 
beth. She  ignored  it.  Not  until  Frederic  himself  returned 
with  the  fugitive  generals  to  the  Palace,  could  she  be 
persuaded  to  join  the  flight.  Carrying  off  what  few  belong- 
ings they  could,  the  royal  party  hurriedly  left  the  Hrads- 
chin — the  scene  of  their  short-lived  royalty,  the  halls  where, 
we  are  told,  but  one  year  ago  Elizabeth  had  laughed  over 
the  beautiful  collections  so  kindly  left  for  her  and  her  hus- 
band by  Ferdinand.  They  crossed  the  old  bridge  which 
the  Queen  had  once  vowed — so  her  enemies  said — never  to 
cross  until  its  images  of  the  saints  had  been  demolished. 
Thus  they  gained  the  Altstadt  and  temporary  safety. 

The  king  and  "his  blessed  undaunted  Lady"  took  up 
their  quarters  in  a  house  in  the  Briickenplatze,  and  around 
them  gathered  the  generals  and  ministers  for  a  council  of 
war.     A   large   majority  considered   that  further  resistance 


1  Conway's  Despatch,  Harl.  MS.  1580,  f.  281.  The  account  of  the  defeat 
of  the  Bohemians  and  the  flight  from  Prague  is  mainly  derived  from  Gin- 
dely's  "Geschichte",  vol.  iii.,  (especially  pp.  348 — 358)  and  Everett-Green, 
vol.  v.,  pp.  342—359- 


ii6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

was  for  the  moment  impossible,  in  view  of  the  panic  which 
had  completely  seized  the  army.  By  accepting  the  offers 
of  the  English  envoys  to  negotiate,  however,  a  final  decision 
was  for  the  time  postponed.  Before  darkness  came  down 
on  the  unhappy  city  crowded  with  terrified  soldiers, 
Frederic  removed  with  his  wife  to  a  house  safer  than 
that  which  they  had  first  occupied:  and  hard  by  them 
lodged  the  generals.  The  night  was  passed  for  the  most 
part  in  consultations  and  the  exchange  of  messages.  The 
generals  were  inclined  to  recommend  to  the  king  immediate 
flight;  but  everywhere  there  reigned  doubt  and  hesitation. 
And  thus  closed  this  eventful  Sunday  which  had  decided 
for  ever  the  fortune  of  Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia.  The 
Catholics  were  careful  to  recall  the  text  from  the  morning's 
lesson  that  had  been  read  in  all  the  churches — ''Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's." 

The  dawn  of  Monday,  November  8th,  found  the  generals 
in  a  more  heroic  mood.  It  was  now  recommended  that 
the  Queen  and  her  baby  should  for  the  present  be  the 
only  persons  to  leave  the  city.  But  on  this  point  Eliza- 
beth, who  in  the  hour  of  danger  had  become  calm  and 
resolute,  had  her  own  opinion :  either  she  would  remain 
with  her  husband  in  Prague,  or  else  her  husband  should 
accompany  her  in  her  flight. 

But  the  heroism  of  the  generals  "  lasted  but  a  breath."  ^ 
When  soon  after  nine  o'clock  no  answer  had  been  received 
to  the  two  proposals  of  the  English  envoys,  it  was  decided 
that  the  Queen  should  at  once  set  out.  "As  she  stepped 
into  the  carriage  with  the  baby  Rupert  on  her  arm,  Frede- 
ric's irresolution  departed:  he  also  mounted  his  horse,  and 
so  set  the  example  for  a  general  flight."  ^ 

As  the  coaches  which  carried  the  Queen,  her  ladies,  and 

1    Conway's  Despatch,  Harl.  MS.  1580,  f.  283. 
3  Gindely,  Geschichte,  vol.  iii.,  p.  354. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  117 

such  small  portion  of  their  belongings  as  could  be  saved, 
wound  sadly  through  the  streets  of  Prague,  the  procession 
grew  ever  longer  and  yet  longer,  till  it  included  besides 
2,000  of  the  demoralized  soldiers,  some  300  waggons,  and 
a  goodly  cavalcade  of  generals,  councillors,  officials,  and 
nobles.  These  who  were  now  swelling  the  mournful  exit, 
were  the  same  personages  who,  just  twelve  months  earlier, 
had  impressed  the  Praguers  by  the  bravery  of  their  en- 
trance— almost  all  of  them  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest 
now  equally  forgetful  of  their  duty  to  the  city,  and  equally 
anxious  to  save  their  own  persons  and  their  own  property. 

At  the  walls  there  was  a  tedious  wait  before  the  gates 
could  be  opened.  Then  Frederic  bade  a  short  farewell 
to  the  distressed  citizens.  The  Bohemian  officials  promised 
to  return  to  their  posts  in  a  few  hours ;  and  the  long  train 
wound  away  through  the  gates. 

One  Bohemian  noble,  the  young  Count  Thurn,  kept  his 
word :  a  mile  outside  the  town  he  turned  back  to  encourage 
the  soldiers,  and  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  bridge  in 
order  to  secure  the  Queen's  retreat.  He  assured  Elizabeth 
that  **he  would  do  the  work  he  went  for,  or  die  to  do  it." 
And  to  this  she  is  said  to  have  repHed  :  "  Never  shall  the 
son  of  our  friend  hazard  his  hfe  to  spare  my  fears, — never 
shall  this  devoted  city  be  exposed  to  more  outrageous  treat- 
ment for  my  sake.  Rather  let  me  perish  on  the  spot  than 
be  remembered  as  a  cursel"^ 

The  commencement  of  the  flight  has  been  described  by 
the  English  Ambassador.  "That  day's  journey  was  long, 
of  six  great  leagues,  to  a  town  called  Nimburg:  by  the 
way  were  many  rumours  and  vain  alarms,  only  the  king 
bare  himself  through  all  the  passages  of  this  disaster  with 
more  clearness  of  judgment,  constancy,  and  assurance,  than 

1  Conway's  Despatch,  Harl.  MS.  1580;  Harte,  "Gustavus  Adolphus,"  quoted 
in  V^arburton,  "Prince  Rupert,"  vol.  i.,  p.  38. 


ii8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

any  of  the  chiefs  of  his  army,  and  indeed  as  well  as  could 
be  looked  for  in  such  an  unexpected  change  and,  a  man 
may  say,  total  disorder.  But  his  incomparable  lady,  who 
truly  saw  the  state  she  was  in,  did  not  let  herself  fall  below 
the  dignity  of  a  queen,  and  kept  the  freedom  of  her  coun- 
tenance and  discourse,  with  such  an  unchangeable  temper, 
as  at  once  did  raise  in  all  capable  men  this  one  thought, 
that  her  mind  could  not  be  brought  under  by  fortune."  ^ 
'*  At  Nimburg  only  a  short  rest  was  possible.  Before  the 
night  was  over  came  bad  news  from  Prague,  and  the  tired 
fugitives  had  again  to  hasten  on.  For  ten  days  the 
headlong  flight  was  continued,  until  the  Elbe  was  left  be- 
hind, the  Riesengebirge  crossed,  and  safety  was  reached  in 
Breslau  among  the  still  loyal  Silesians.  It  was  a  hard  journey 
for  a  Queen  within  two  months  of  her  confinement.  Troops 
of  the  half-savage  Cossacks  were  following  hard  upon  her 
steps.  Sometimes  she  was  able  to  travel  by  coach :  at 
others  it  was  necessary  for  her  to  gallop  on  horseback 
through  roads  deep  with  mire — postillioned  behind  the  young 
Ralph  Hopton,  at  this  time  fresh  from  Oxford,  one  of  the 
many  gentlemen  who  had  flocked  to  her  service,  and 
destined  later  to  become  a  General  of  the  Cavaliers  in  the 
English  civil  wars.  But  more  bitter  than  the  hardships  of 
the  journey  were  its  indignities.  When  even  her  own  at- 
tendants presumed  to  pillage  her  baggage-waggons,  she 
began  to  feel  the  sting  of  failure. 

None  the  less,  this  was  the  hour  of  Elizabeth's  personal 
triumph.  ''Their  Majesties'  retreat,"  wrote  Nethersole,  "was 
no  less  truly  glorious  than  their  entrance."  Nethersole 
was  right.  It  was  now  that  Elizabeth  showed  of  what 
metal  she  was  made :  that  she  could  be  as  cheerful  amidst 
difficulties  as  amidst  frivolities,  and  as  fearless  when  hunted 

1  Conway's  Despatch,  Harl.  MS.  1580. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  119 

as  when  hunting.  All  who  came  across  her  at  this 
time  were  unanimous  in  their  praises — praises  that  are  not, 
as  so  often,  the  mere  compliments  of  the  courtier,  but  ex- 
pressions of  genuine,  heartfelt  admiration.  Nethersole,  for 
instance,  assuredly  no  feather-headed  man,  interrupts  his  sober 
political  Despatch  to  Naunton,  James's  Secretary  of  State, 
with  the  following  undiplomatic  outburst:  "I  will  beleeve 
that  God  who  hath  given  to  everything  his  proper  season  . .  . 
hath  no  ill  purpose  in  leading  his  [Majesty's]  glorious  daughter 
thus  round  about  the  Empire,  to  conquer  all  the  heartes 
of  this  mighty  people  where  she  passeth.  Your  honour  will, 
I  doubt,  think  I  want  sleepe  when  I  write  this.  I  confesse 
I  am  rapt  with  the  greatness  of  her  Majesty's  spirit,  and 
the  goodness  of  her  disposition,  and  I  am  not  alone  in  it."  ^ 
Nor  was  he  alone  in  it.  Elizabeth,  a  Queen  without  a 
kingdom,  a  Queen  without  even  a  night-gown,  was  now,  as 
earlier,  a  Queen  **by  virtue,"  was  beginning  her  reign  as 
**the  Queen  of  Hearts." 

Even  at  Breslau  there  was  only  safety  for  a  few  days. 
The  troops  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  were  in  Lusatia  on 
the  flanks  of  the  fugitives.  Frederic  had  to  remain  to 
rally  the  Silesians  and  Moravians,  but  Elizabeth  with  her 
baby  in  her  arms  again  fled  northwards,  escorted  only  by 
60  troopers.  Passing  down  the  Oder  she  begged  from  the 
friends  of  her  prosperity  some  place  where  she  might  take 
refuge  for  her  approaching  hour.  They  offered  her  a  cold 
welcome.  But  Frederic's  brother-in-law,  the  Elector  of. 
Brandenburg,  could  not  order  the  doors  of  his  Castle  of 
Ciistrin  to  be  shut  against  her,  though  he  pointed  out  that 
she  would  find  there  "  nothing  but  misery  and  starvation." 
And  so  to  Ciistrin,  a  desolate  fortress  without  furniture, 
without  tapestry,  and  even  without  a  kitchen,  ^  the  lonely 

1  State  Papers  (Foreign),  Germany  (Empire)  1620,  16/26  Nov. 

2  Benger,  Memoirs  of  Elizabeth,  vol.  ii.,  p.  106. 


I20  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Queen  retired.  Thither,  at  the  close  of  December,  hurried 
Frederic,  leaving  his  Silesian  and  Bohemian  subjects  to 
their  fate — now  as  ever  more  mindful  of  his  wife  than  of 
his  own  honour.  And  in  one  of  the  bare  rooms  of  Ciistrin 
the  Queen  on  Jan.  i6th  gave  birth  to  *'a  large Jand 
goodly  son."  ^  "Let  him  be  called  Maurice,"  she  said, 
remembering  Frederic's  uncle,  the  champion  of  the  Dutch, 
"for  he  will  have  to  be  a  fighter." 

As  soon  as  she  was  well  enough  to  travel,  Elizabeth 
pursued  her  way  across  North  Germany.  At  Berlin  she 
was  now  kindly  received  by  the  Electress,  her  sister-in-law ; 
and  in  her  safe  hands  she  left  the  baby  Maurice.  Then 
passing  through  Wolfenbiittel  she  rejoined,  in  Westphalia, 
her  husband,  who  had  left  her  in  order  to  negotiate  with 
Christian  of  Denmark  and  the  Lutherans. 

But  where  next  were  they  to  turn?  The  Palatinate  was 
already  partly  occupied  by  Spinola  and  his  Spaniards.  Men 
thought  it  was  all  the  more  necessary  therefore  that  Fre- 
deric should  visit  Heidelberg,  and  restore  confidence  there 
by  his  presence.  Once  more,  however,  Frederic's  principal 
care  was  the  safety  of  Elizabeth;  and  he  resolved,  before 
visiting  his  lands  on  the  Rhine,  to  escort  her  to  some  place 
of  refuge.  England  was  the  country  to  which  the  exiles 
had  naturally  turned  their  eyes.  But  in  England  the  extra- 
ordinary outburst  of  Protestant  enthusiasm  only  made  the 
cautious  King  less  anxious  for  the  presence  of  the  Princess 
round  whom  the  enthusiasm  centred,  and  James  therefore 
let  it  be  known  that  for  the  present  he  had  no  desire  to 
see  either  his  daughter  or  her  consort.  Nor  did  any  safe 
asylum  offer  itself  within  the  Empire.  But  there  was  one 
hearty  invitation  which  reached  the  homeless  couple,  from 

1  Harl.  MS.  389,  f.  2. 


ELIZABETH  OF, BOHEMIA  121 

Maurice  of  Orange,  their  uncle  at  the  Hague;  and  this 
they  were  glad  to  accept.  Travelling  down  the  lower  Rhine 
by  Cleves  and  Rotterdam — the  route  which  eight  years 
earlier  had  been  enlivened  by  the  triumphs  of  their  bridal 
procession,  the  exiles  reached  the  Hague  on  the  3rd  of 
April.  Everywhere  the  Dutch  endeavoured  to  make  their 
welcome  as  warm  as  it  had  been  in  161 3.  Frederic  and 
Elizabeth  were  given  all  the  honours  of  royalty,  together 
with  the  reverence  due  to  Protestant  martyrs.  They  were 
saluted  with  solemn  addresses  by  town  councils,  and  were 
formally  received  by  foreign  ambassadors.  **A  great  con- 
course of  people  coming  from  all  parts"  made  the  road 
between  Delft  and  the  Hague  **like  a  continued  Street."  ^ 
And  most  substantial  compliment  of  all,  the  States  General 
offered  them  a  palace  for  their  lodgement  and  a  monthly 
pension  of  10,000  florins  for  their  keep. 

Here,  then,  at  the  Hague,  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  after 
their  long  flight  had  at  last  found  a  home :  here  they  could 
survey  at  leisure  the  ruin  of  their  fortunes.  It  was  but  a 
year  and  a  half  since  Frederic  had  accepted  the  Bohemian 
crown.  But  within  these  few  months  he  had  plunged 
Germany  into  a  general  war,  and  had  brought  disaster  on 
himself  and  on  all  who  had  trusted  him.  Bohemia  was 
lying  at  the  mercy  of  the  pitiless  Austrian :  its  national 
life  was  being  crushed,  its  Protestantism  proscribed,  and 
the  flower  of  its  nobility  exiled  or  executed.  The  Lower 
Palatinate  was  partly  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards ;  and 
the  remainder  was  about  to  be  deserted  by  the  troops  of 
the  Protestant  Union,  which,  disgusted  by  the  selfishness 
of  Frederic  and  the  shiftiness  of  James,  was  anxious  to 
put  an  end  to  its  own  miserable  existence.  Nor  was  the 
case  of  the  Upper  Palatinate  much  better;  for  there  Mans- 

1     Carleton's  Despatch,  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  361. 


122  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

feld,  the  brigand  General,  was  using  Frederic's  name  as 
a  cloak  for  his  robberies,  and  was  involving  his  nominal 
master  in  his  own  evil  repute.  Moreover,  in  January  Fre- 
deric had  been  put  to  the  ban  by  the  Emperor,  and 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria  was  determined  to  exact  the  full 
share  that  had  been  promised  him  of  the  spoil.  Frederic's 
fall  was  as  profound  as  his  ambitious  plans  had  been 
exalted :  he  who  had  thought  to  ruin  the  Hapsburgs,  even 
to  add  the  crown  of  Hungary  to  his  crown  of  Bohemia, 
had  succeeded  in  making  himself  and  his  misfortunes  the 
butt  of  every  wit  and  lampooner  in  Catholic  Europe. 

Frederic  had  fallen,  never  to  rise  again.  His  active 
career  as  a  Prince  was  at  an  end.  He  and  his  wife  had 
astonished  the  world  by  the  recklessness  of  their  play; 
but  their  turn  at  the  game  was  over,  and  they  had  lost. 
Henceforth  they  were  to  watch  from  their  retirement  the 
struggles  of  others :  they  were  to  consume  their  long  years 
of  exile  in  monotonous  attempts  to  persuade  these  others 
to  regain  for  them  some  portion  of  their  former  possessions. 
And  so  the  story  of  the  Queen  of  Bohemia  is  in  a  sense 
now  closed.  Although  there  were  forty  years  of  life  still  left 
her,  they  were  years  of  almost  unrelieved  adversity,  and  in 
spite  of  the  brave  cheerfulness  with  which  she  bore  her 
succession  of  misfortunes,  it  is  kinder  to  dwell  as  shortly 
as  may  be  on  this  later  history — kinder  to  those  who  read 
it,  since  the  court  circular  of  an  exiled  Queen  cannot  often 
be  a  lofty  theme;  and  kinder  to  Elizabeth  herself,  since 
in  the  troubles  of  these  years  there  is  not  a  little  that  is 
sordid,  much  that  may  well  be  forgotten  in  the  merry  fresh- 
ness of  her  girlhood,  and  the  heroism  of  her  flight. 

Happily  for  themselves,  however,  neither  Frederic  nor 
Elizabeth  realised  the  completeness  of  their  failure.  Elizabeth 
had  written  on  November  25th:     "I  am  not  yet  so  out  of 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  123 

heart,  though  I  confess  we  are  in  an  evil  estate,  but  that 
(as  I  hope)  God  will  give  us  again  the  victory,  for  the 
wars  are  not  ended  with  one  battle,  and  I  hope  we  shall 
have  better  luck  in  the  next."  * 

Frederic  was  no  less  optimistic  than  Elizabeth.  Except 
during  some  short  intervals  of  despondency,  he  was  buoyed 
up  till  the  day  of  his  death  by  his  airy  plans.  Every  one 
of  these  eleven  years  had  its  similar  hopes,  its  similar 
failures,  and  its  revived  hopes. 

Frederic  is  ever  just  about  to  be  restored — sometimes 
by  means  of  the  force,  sometimes  by  means  of  the  influence 
of  others:  he  never  is  restored.  The  political  theme  in 
which  light-heartedness  alternates  with  sadness,  is  repeated 
with  endless  variations,  repeated  till  all  men  and  especially 
the  performers  are  weary.  This  extraordinary  sameness  in 
the  history  of  Frederic's  affairs  throughout  the  ensuing 
years,  is  to  be  explained  by  the  permanent  forces  that  were 
at  work — the  Winter  King's  own  unchanging  character,  and 
the  constant  elements  in  the  disposition  of  political  parties. 

As  before  the  crisis  had  occurred,  Frederic  could  still 
select  as  his  allies  from  among  the  mass  of  those  who 
were  opposed  to  Catholicism  and  to  the  Hapsburgs,  either 
the  war  party  or  the  peace  party.  Foremost  among  those 
who  had  so  far  committed  themselves  to  a  policy  of  war 
that  they  had  no  choice  but  to  fight  things  out  to  the 
bitter  end,  were  the  Dutch  whose  long  truce  with  Spain 
was  just  lapsing  when  Frederic  reached  the  Hague; 
Bethlen  Gabor  who  had  carried  on  more  successfully 
in  Hungary,  the  part  that  Frederic  had  attempted  in 
Bohemia;  and  those  German  princes  who  kept  armies 
of  marauders  in  the  field,  nominally  in  the  cause  of  Frederic, 
but   in  reality  too   often   for  their  own  pleasure,  that  they 

1     Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  349. 


124  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

might  live  at  large  upon  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  the  land; 
such  were  Mansfeld  and  the  condottieri  of  the  Mansfeld  type, 
the  Marquis  of  Baden-Durlach  and  Christian  of  Brunswick. 
First  of  the  opposite  party,  of  those  who  preferred  peace, 
was  James  of  England.  This  monarch's  policy,  admirable 
in  theory,  execrable  in  practice,  was  in  its  main  charac- 
teristics always  the  same;  but  the  external  world  was 
changing,  and  so  the  actual  verity  of  things  receded  ever 
further  from  the  illusion  of  things  that  existed  within  James' 
brain.  James  believed  that  he  and  his  ambassadors  could 
reason  the  Emperor  into  a  restoration  of  the  Palatinate, 
or — when  that  attempt  had  failed  several  times — that  he 
could  reason  Spain  or  France  into  using  their  influence 
with  the  Emperor  sufficiently  to  intimidate  him  into  the 
restoration.  At  the  same  time,  to  please  his  own  Protest- 
ant vanity  and  to  satisfy  the  clamours  of  his  people,  the 
British  Solomon  would  assume  a  half  truculent  air  and 
would  talk  loudly  of  the  punishment  which  was  await- 
ing the  Catholics  if  his  wise  words  were  neglected. 
But  the  Catholics  were  rather  amused  than  alarmed  at  the 
sight :  they  knew  James  better  than  he  knew  himself;  they 
were  aware  that  his  warlike  pose  would  not  last  long, 
and  that  he  would  always  return  to  talk  of  treaties  and 
peace.  For  the  fact  was  that,  in  regard  to  the  political 
affairs  of  Germany,  it  was  scarcely  possible  for  James  to 
do  anything  more  than  to  talk.  Unless  he  was  prepared 
to  surrender  all  the  prerogatives  that  he  held  dearest,  he 
could  not  obtain  sufficient  money  to  carry  on  a  war  him- 
self, or  to  pay  others  to  carry  it  on  for  him.  On  those 
occasions  when  James's  treaties  and  mediatorial  plans  broke 
down,  when  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  think  of 
real  action,  the  English  King,  like  Frederic,  naturally 
turned  to  see  if  he  could  not  induce  others  to  do  that 
for    him    which    he    was   not   prepared  to  do  himself.     To 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  125 

effect  this  purpose,  it  was  essential  to  gain  over  the  Lutheran 
wing  of  Protestantism.  The  princes  of  Northern  Germany 
were  in  an  unpleasant  position :  they  were  uncertain  which 
was  the  more  horrible,  the  Catholicism  of  the  Hapsburgs, 
or  the  anarchical  conduct  of  Frederic  and  his  generals. 
Yet  they  were  continually  importuned  and  menaced  by 
both  parties.  The  Lutheran  kings  of  Denmark  and  Sweden 
were  in  a  similar  state  of  indecision.  All  were  opposed 
to  the  Emperor's  confiscation  of  the  Palatinate  and  to  the 
aggressive  march  of  CathoHcism.  But  they  wished  to  be 
sure  of  their  ground  before  moving ;  they  would  not  com- 
mit themselves  until  they  had  the  example  of  some  leader. 
For  long  they  looked  to  James  for  this  lead.  But  James 
by  his  shifting  policy  simply  disheartened  and  confused 
them;  and  those  princes  whom  his  promises  of  support 
persuaded  to  take  up  arms,  were  only  lured  thereby  to 
their  own  ruin ;  for  James's  promises  could  never  be  fulfilled 
so  long  as  he  was  distrusted  by  the  EngHsh  parliament. 

The  other  constant  element  which  decided  Frederic's 
political  history  in  these  years  was  the  peculiarity  of  his 
own  character.  In  the  first  place,  he  could  never  learn  by 
experience.  In  the  second  place,  he  displayed  the  curious 
combination  of  obstinacy  and  indecision,  which  is  possible 
to  a  weak  but  conscientious  mind.  As  a  consequence  he 
continued  vainly  to  place  his  trust  in  the  number  of  his 
potential  allies,  and  madly  to  attempt  to  unite  the  advant- 
ages of  two  opposite  policies  by  adhering  with  rapid  alter- 
nation now  to  the  peace,  now  to  the-  war  programme. 

Frederic,  however,  was  not  entirely  to  blame  for  such 
criminal  folly.  He  was  the  sport  of  circumstances.  While 
his  personal  inclinations  drove  him  to  the  side  of  men  Hke 
Gabor  and  Mansfeld,  who  alone  encouraged  him  to  think 
of  reconquering  Bohemia,  and  while  he  felt  bound  by 
honour   both   to   support  these   men  who  were  fighting  in 


126  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

his  cause,  and  to  regain  by  the  sword  that  of  which  he 
had  been  deprived  by  the  sword,  he  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  drawn  to  the  side  of  James  and  the  peace-loving 
Protestants  by  EHzabeth's  sense  of  duty  to  her  father, 
and  by  a  misty  consciousness  that  no  good  would  ever 
come  of  the  brigand  generals.  Moreover,  Frederic  was  a 
pauper,  and  not  being  prepared  to  starve,  was  no  longer  a  free 
agent.  For  part  of  their  sustenance  the  Palatine  family  were 
dependent  on  the  charity  of  the  Dutch — and  the  Dutch 
were  once  more  engaged  in  a  deadly  struggle  with  Catholi- 
cism ;  for  the  rest  they  were  dependent  on  the  charity  of  James 
—  and  James  made  a  practice  of  bending  Frederic  to  con- 
form to  his  negotiation  policy  by  threatening  to  stop  the 
English  allowance.  The  miserable  exile  attempted  to  please 
both  parties,  and  in  so  doing,  he  of  course  succeeded  in 
irritating  both.  When  his  father-in-law  compelled  him  to 
sit  tamely  at  the  Hague  and  trust  in  the  wisdom  of  Eng- 
lish diplomacy,  those  who  were  fighting  in  Frederic's  cause 
regarded  him  as  a  traitor  to  himself:  then,  when  stung  by 
their  reproaches,  he  broke  loose  from  the  tape  bonds  of 
James,  the  English  statesmen  raised  the  cry  that  he  had 
spoilt  the  good  effects  of  all  their  efforts  and  was  ruining 
his  own  cause:  thereupon  the  shame-faced  Frederic  would 
return  to  the  Hague  and  his  wife,  and  the  dreary 
process  would  recommence. 

There  is  no  space  here  to  re-tell  the  political  history  of 
Frederic  and  Elizabeth  during  the  period  of  their  exile. 
This  can  be  found  in  the  general  histories  of  the  times ;  ^ 
for  round  the  attempts  to  recover  the  Palatinate  centred 
most  of  the  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  and  of  the 
foreign  policy  of  England. 

To   Elizabeth  who  had  to  remain  quietly  at  the  Hague, 

1  The  best  short  account  is  that  of  Prof.  Gardiner  in  his  volume  on  the 
Thirty  Years'  War.  (Epoch  Series.) 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  127 

a  mere  spectator  of  the  continual  follies  and  failures  of 
those  who  were  championing  her  cause,  these  years  must 
have  been  painfully  wearisome.  After  having  expectantly 
followed  in  162 1,  Lord  Digby's  negotiations,  the  failure 
of  which  was  attributed  to  Frederic's  conduct  in  refusing 
to  disown  Mansfeld,  and  in  impatiently  joining  the  Dutch 
army  in  the  field;  after  having,  in  1622,  waited  through  the 
Weston  negotiations  which  were  rendered  futile  by  her 
husband's  gratuitous  attack  on  the  Lutheran  Landgrave  of 
Hesse-Darmstadt;  after  having  hoped  for  a  moment  that 
James  would  at  last  be  moved  to  give  some  active  assis- 
tance, Elizabeth  was  then,  in  1623,  doomed  to  see  her 
father,  ensnared  by  the  idea  of  the  Spanish  marriage,  take 
the  suicidal  step  of  allowing  Charles  and  Buckingham  to  go  in 
person  to  Madrid.     It  was  a  crushing  blow  to  her  prospects. 

Some  time  previously,  Elizabeth,  who  had  lavishly  used 
her  private  influence  with  her  English  friends  for  political 
purposes,  had  written  the  following  characteristic  letter  to 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham: 

"  My  Lord, — The  King  understanding  that  the  Spaniard 
hath  refused  to  renew  the  truce  in  the  Palatinate,  hath 
written  to  his  Majestic  to  intreat  him  for  his  assistance; 
the  countrie  else  will  be  all  lost.  I  must  desire  your  help 
to  his  Majestie  in  this,  and  beseech  him  for  us  not  to  lett 
us  loose  all.  I  know  the  Spanish  Ambassadour  will  make 
manie  complaints  against  the  King  concerning  the  Count 
Mansfeld's  proceedings,  but  I  hope  his  Majestie  will  not 
judge  till  he  heere  the  King's  answeare  to  anie  such  accusa- 
tion, who  may  be  believed  as  soon  as  the  other.  I  must 
entreat  you  therefore  to  help  us  in  this.  I  have  also  written 
to  my  deare  Brother  about  it,  next  to  whom  I  have  most 
confidence  in  you  who  shall  never  find  me  other  than 

'•Your  most  affectionat  frend, 
"  Elizabeth. 


128  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

"  My  Lord,  I  forgott  one  thing,  which  is  that  the  king  is 
much  troubled  at  this  newes  more  than  ever  I  saw  him. 
I  earnestly  intreat  you  therefore  to  gett  his  Majestie  to 
send  him  some  effectuall  comfortable  answeare  that  may 
a  little  ease  his  melancolie,  for  I  confess  it  troubles  me  to 
see  him  soe.  I  pray  lett  none  know  this  but  his  Majestie 
and  my  brother  to  whom  I  forgott  to  write  it.  The  naggs 
you  promised  me  shall  be  very  welcome,  specially  since 
they  come  from  your  wife  to  whom  I  pray  commend  my 
love."  ^ 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Frederic  was  extremely  depressed 
by  his  misfortunes.  He  was  reported  to  have  said  "that 
were  it  not  for  the  person  of  his  Lady  which  he  loved 
above  all  other,  he  could  have  wished  he  had  married  rather 
a   Boore's  daughter,  than  the  King  of  Great  Brittaine's."  " 

And  Elizabeth  had  unwillinsjly  to  admit  the  justice  of  her 
husband's  complaint.  '*My  father,"  she  wrote  in  December 
1622,  **hath  hitherto  done  us  more  hurt  than  good."  ^  The 
gloom  was  never  more  profound  than  in  the  winter  of 
1622 — 3.  Mansfeld,  Brunswick,  and  Baden-Durlach  had 
each  been  hopelessly  defeated.  Frederic  had  at  length 
yielded  to  English  pressure  and  dismissed  them  from  his 
service.  But  this  had  not  enabled  him  to  gain  any  advant- 
age from  the  Weston  negotiations.  It  had  rather  encouraged 
the  Imperialists  to  redouble  their  military  efforts;  and  the 
two  or  three  fortresses  that  had  long  been  doggedly  defended 
by  the  English  and  other  volunteers,  were  now  falling  one 
by  one  into  the  hands  of  the  Catholics.  On  hearing  of 
the  capture  of  Heidelberg,  Frederic,  from  his  retreat  at 
Sedan,  had  poured  out  the  bitterness  of  his  heart  in  a  long 

1  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Buckingham,  8   Aug.,  [1621  ?]     Hist.  MS.  Com., 
lOth  Report,  Appendix  i.,  p.  90. 

3  Mead  to  — ,  5  May,  1621.  Harl.  MS.  389,  f.  67. 

2  Elizabeth  to  SirT.  Roe,  Dec.  5.  1622,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  404. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  129 

letter  to  Elizabeth:  "Voila  mon  pauvre  Heidelberg  prisl 
On  y  a  exerce  toutes  sortes  de  cruautes,  pille  toute  la  ville, 
allume  tout  le  fauxbourg  qui  etoit  le  plus  beau  du  dit 
lieu  ...  Me  semble  avoir  ete  quelques  annees  sans  voir  ce 
que  j'aime  le  plus  en  ce  monde;  d'ou  autrement,  certes, 
je  me  retirerois  plus  volontiers  que  d'y  vivre;  car  je 
pourrois  mieux  servir  a  mon  Dieu,  aurois  I'esprit  plus 
content  en  le  plus  petit  coin  du  monde,  que  le  plus  grand 
monarque  au  plus  grand  palais :  et  certes,  si  je  suivois 
mon  humeur,  je  m'en  retirerois  de  tout,  et  laisserois  faire 
le  Roi  d'Angleterre  pour  le  bien  de  ses  enfans,  ce  qu'il 
leur  croiroit  utile."  ^  A  month  later  the  loss  of  Mannheim 
was  announced  to  Frederic  at  the  Hague.  "  Of  all  the 
ill  news,"  Carleton  reported,  "which  have  come  unto  him 
like  Job's  messengers,  I  have  observed  none  since  his  first 
arrival  in  these  parts  to  drive  him  into  so  much  distemper 
and  passion  as  this,  for  which  the  sorrow  of  her  Highness' 
heart  (who  was  present  at  the  reading  of  the  letters)  was 
seen  in  her  watery  eyes  and  silence.  God  send  them 
both  patience."  ^ 

The  Palatines  had  certainly  need  to  pray  for  patience. 
The  year  1623  passed  as  other  years  had  passed,  in  un- 
successful negotiations.  Then  Charles  and  Buckingham  came 
home  in  disgust  at  Spanish  hypocrisy.  For  the  first  time 
England  resounded  with  actual  preparations  for  a  campaign. 
But  the  summer  of  1624  brought  with  it  the  usual  dis- 
illusionment. James  sank  back  into  negotiations,  and 
thought  only  of  procuring  allies  instead  of  putting  his  new 
troops  to  any  useful  purpose.  In  the  next  year  came  the 
death  of  James,  who  had  always  been  the  great  obstacle 
to  decided  action ;  and  hope  accordingly  revived.  Elizabeth 
wrote   to  her  friend  Sir  Thomas  Roe:  "Now  you  may  be 

1  Bromley  Letters,  pp.  18 — 19. 

2  Carleton  to  Sec.  Calvert.,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p,  402. 


I30  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

sure  all  will  go  well  in  England;  for  your  new  master 
will  leave  nothing  undone  for  our  good."  ^  For  a  time 
all  seemed  to  promise  well ;  an  arrangement  was  concluded 
by  which  Christian  of  Denmark  was  to  make  a  serious 
attack  on  the  Emperor;  and  England  actually  declared 
war  against  Spain.  Then  one  by  one  the  Palatines'  hopes 
were  more  completely  shattered  than  ever  before.  It 
became  clear  that  however  anxious  the  English  King  might 
be  to  restore  the  Palatinate,  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to 
enforce  his  will,  since  he  could  not  secure  the  support 
of  his  Parliament.  The  Spanish  war  was  a  failure.  The 
EngHsh  troops  of  Mansfeld  wasted  away  in  Holland  from 
starvation  and  disease.  In  1626  Christian  of  Denmark, 
being  deserted  by  England,  was  crushed  at  the  battle  of 
Lutter.  The  new  Imperial  army  of  Wallenstein  became 
supreme  in  Germany.  Mansfeld  and  Christian  of  Bruns- 
wick died,  the  generals  who  had  dared  so  much  and  done 
so  little  for  the  King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia.  In  Hungary, 
Bethlen  Gabor,  after  ten  years  of  intermittent  war,  at  length 
made  his  peace.  Charles  of  England,  indeed,  would  not 
admit  himself  to  be  beaten;  he  pledged  himself  to  see 
Frederic  restored.  When,  however,  peace  was  concluded 
with  Spain  in  1629,  Charles  did  not  insist  on  the  clause 
for  the  restoration  of  the  Palatinate.  Well  might  Frederic, 
on  hearing  the  news,  burst  into  a  passionate  fit  of  weeping. 
All  the  toiling  efforts,  the  diplomacy  and  the  fighting,  of 
the  last  eight  years  had  been  in  vain  and  to  no  purpose. 
And  no  Princes  were  affected  more  closely  by  the  failures 
of  this  period  than  Elizabeth  and  Frederic.  For  them 
it  had  not  been  merely  the  fate  of  German  Protestantism 
and  the  prestige  of  England  that  had  been  at  stake,  but 
their   own   honour  and   their   own  possessions,  the  fortune 

1  Letters  and  Negotiations  of  Sir  Thos.  Roe,  p.  397. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  131 

of  those  who  had  trusted  to  their  government,  the  future 
careers  of  their  numerous  offspring,  and  the  whole  material 
welfare  of  themselves  and  their  dependants. 

The  Palatines  at  the  Hague  were  not  indeed  poor  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  term.    Besides  smaller  resources  they 
enjoyed  monthly  allowances  of  10,000  florins  from  the  Dutch 
Estates,    and   ^1,500  from  the  English  treasury.     But  this 
was  poverty  compared  to  their  previous  circumstances;  and 
the  demands  on  their  purse  were  very  great.    They  tried  to 
keep  up  the  show  of  royalty ;  the  Queen's  own  establishment 
consisted   of  200   persons  and  50  horses.     Moreover,  they 
were   surrounded   by  needy  exiles  from  the  Palatinate  and 
Bohemia;    and   neither    Frederic    nor  Elizabeth  could  ever 
learn  to  refuse  a  petition.  At  any  rate,  the  Palatine  family  was 
always  in  pecuniary  difficulties.     In  1627  Sir  Dudley  Carle- 
ton   sent  home  word  that   their    poverty    was  so  extreme 
that   they    hardly   knew    how    to  get  bread.     '*Lay  about 
you   on   all   hands   for   here  is  neither  money  nor  credit." 
Three   years   later  Frederic   was  in  such  straits  that  for  a 
time   he  thought  of  putting  away  all  his  servants  in  order 
that  he  might  **live  obscurely  with  a  couple  of  men,"  while 
his   Queen  was  to  be  sent  to  England  to  throw  herself  at 
her   brother's   feet.  ^     The   fact   was  that  Charles  after  the 
break  with  his  parliament  was  not  able  to  pay  the  English 
allowance  punctually,  and  still  less  to  discharge  the  exiles' 
debts,   as  James   after  much  grumbling  had  been  wont  to 
do.     Even  in  1627  the  sums  due  from  the  Bohemian  court  to 
the   tradesmen   of  the   Hague   had   amounted  to  ^10,000; 
and  they  increased  as  the  years  went  by.    It  was  a  trying 
situation    for    the    court.     Outside    were    the  shopkeepers 
"  waiting  for  the  messenger  with  money  from  England  with 
as   much    earnestness  as  the  Jews  look  for  their  Messiah." 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  458,  479 — 80  etc. 


132  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Inside  were  the  courtiers  longing  for  news  of  the  Queen's 
agent,  "with  hunger  and  thirst.'*^ 

When  such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  it  is  not  strange 
that  Carleton  had  fears  lest  "  Elizabeth's  cheerful  temper, 
unbroken  by  public  distresses,  should  be  dejected  with  the 
pressure  of  private  wants."  '^  But  the  Queen  of  Bohemia 
would  not  allow  her  spirit  to  be  broken  by  her  sorrows. 
To  Sir  Thomas  Roe  she  wrote:  *' though  I  have  cause 
inough  to  be  sad,  yett  I  am  still  of  my  wild  humour  to 
be  as  merrie  as  I  can  in  spite  of  fortune."  ^  It  was  no 
wonder  that  even  the  matter-of-fact  diplomatists  who  had 
dealings  with  the  exiles  should  have  applauded  with  one 
accord  her  "  heroical  spirit,'*  and  "  her  princely   courage." 

Elizabeth  justly  deserved  all  praise  for  the  brave  manner 
in  which  she  bore  her  troubles.  Yet  it  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  fortune  was  not  as  yet  wholly  unkind.  At 
the  Hague  she  could  enjoy  the  society  and  amusements 
which  to  her  meant  life  itself.  Here  she  was  in  a  town 
which  was  just  waking  up  to  its  importance  as  the  centre 
of  the  fresh  activities  and  growing  prosperity  of  the  youth- 
ful Dutch  Republic.  Here  were  gathered  nobles,  ambas- 
sadors, artists,  men  of  every  interest  and  from  every 
country;  and  in  spite  of  the  lingering  Dutch  war  with 
Spain,  they  were  all  prepared  to  make  life  enjoyable  for 
themselves  and  for  the  royal  refugees. 

Foremost  in  this  interesting  society  were  the  two  Prin- 
ces of  the  House  of  Orange,  who  successively  exercised  the 
powers  though  not  the  title  of  a  king.  The  elder,  Maurice, 
was  especially  kind  to  the  Palatines;  and  the  genial  old 
bachelor    was    regarded    by    Elizabeth    as    a  foster-father.  ^ 


1  Abstract  of  Carleton's  Despatch  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  430. 
3  Ibid. 

3  Letters  and  Negotiations  of  Sir  Thos.  Roe,  p.  146. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  397. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  133 

When  he  was  on  his  death-bed  in  1625,  Maurice 
showed  his  appreciation  of  the  healthy  atmosphere  of 
Elizabeth's  court  by  insisting  that  his  younger  brother 
and  successor,  Frederic  Henry,  should  marry  one  of  her 
ladies,  the  fair  Amelia  de  Solms.  Under  the  new  regime 
it  was  natural  that  there  should  be  some  friction  between 
Amelia,  now  the  rich  hostess,  and  her  former  mistress,  the 
poor  Queen.  But  the  honours  of  royalty  continued  to  be 
punctiliously  afforded  to  the  Palatines,  and  to  all  functions 
/  they   were  asked  as   the  principal  guests. 

The  exiled  court  was  especially  dependent  for  its  comfort 
on  the  successive  English  ambassadors  at  the  Hague.  It 
became  one  of  the  most  difficult  duties  of  these  officials  to 
entertain  their  master's  daughter,  to  sustain  her  hopes  and 
divert  her  attention  during  those  "melancholy  days"  which 
would  sometimes  come  even  to  the  lively  Queen.  With 
Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  who  was  diplomatically  employed  at 
the  Hague  till  1628,  and  with  his  wife,  Elizabeth  was  on 
the  easiest  terms.  On  one  occasion  she  is  found  paying 
a  surprise  visit  to  the  embassy  at  dinner  time,  and  then 
carrying  off  the  company  on  an  expedition  to  see  a  mon- 
ster fish   that   had    been  washed  up  on  to  the  sea-shore.  ^ 

But  besides  its  ordinary  residents  the  Hague  was  enliv- 
ened by  a  continual  stream  of  visitors.  Many  of  them 
came  with  the  sole  purpose  of  seeing  the  exiled  Queen. 
Her  energy  and  her  wide  sympathies  enabled  her  ever  to 
keep  in  touch  with  a  remarkably  large  and  varied  circle  of 
acquaintances.  Some,  such  as  the  Countess  of  Bedford, 
formerly  Lucy  Harington,  had  been  the  friends  of  her 
childhood.  Others  who  were  in  the  habit  of  sending  her 
small  presents,  or  who  would  come  to  kiss  her  hand, 
remembered  her  simply  as  their  '*  Lady  Elizabeth  ".    Many, 

1  Nethersole's  Despatch,  Aug.  22,  1621,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.372. 


134  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

again,  were  English  noblemen  whom  she  had  known  at  her 
father's  court.  For  instance,  it  appears  from  her  letters  to 
Sir  Thomas  Roe,  that  the  Duke  of  Richmond  was  **  loved 
well"  by  her;  and  that  the  death  of  '*worthie  Southampton" 
in  1624  left  her  sad  for  many  days.  ^  Amongst  her  circle 
of  correspondents  were  a  few  men  of  letters  such  as  Donne 
and  Bacon.  But  though  she  would  graciously  thank  these 
for  their  "Dedications"  to  her,  it  does  not  appear  that 
she  was  herself  a  very  great  reader. 

Those  friends  with  whom  she  seems  to  have  been  most 
familiar,  are  the  diplomatists  who  had  been  at  one  time  or 
another  employed  in  her  behalf  The  impression  which  Eliza- 
beth had  made  on  Sir  Henry  Wotton  at  Prague  was  never 
obliterated.  **  Shall  I  die  without  seeing  again  my  Royal 
Mistress?"  he  would  write  to  her.  ".  .  .  Shall  such  a  con- 
temptible distance  as  between  Eton  and  Hague,  divide  me 
from  beholding  how  her  virtues  overshine  the  darkness  of 
her  Fortune?"^  With  Conway,  also,  who  had  been  by  her 
side  during  the  disaster  of  the  White  Mountain,  she  con- 
tinued to  correspond.  When  he  was  created  Viscount 
Killultagh  she  wrote  to  him,  "  You  have  gotten  the  maddest 
new  name  that  can  be;  it  will  spoil  any  good  mouth  to 
pronounce  it  right,  but  in  earnest  I  wish  you  all  happiness 
with  it."  ^  With  the  dandy  Earl  of  CarHsle,  the  Viscount 
Doncaster  who  had  been  James'  envoy  in  16 19,  she  was 
on  such  close  terms  that  she  could  fling  at  him  one  of  her 
nick-names.  The  following  is  a  letter  to  Carlisle  in  her 
liveliest  strain: — 

"Thou  ugly,  filthy,  camel's  face, 

*  •  You  chid  me  once  for  not  writing  to  you :  now  I  have 
my    revenge,    and    more    justly  chide  you,  for  not  having 

^  Letters  and  Negotiations  of  Sir  Thos.  Roe,  p.  222  and  p.  397. 

2  Reliquiae  V^ottonianse,  p.  450. 

3  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  462. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  135 

heard  from  you  so  long  as  I  fear  you  have  forgot  to  write. 
I  have  charged  this  fat  fellow  [Sir  Harry  Vane]  to  tell  you  all 
this,  and  that  I  cannot  forget  your  villany.  He  can  inform  [you] 
how  all  things  are  here,  and  what  they  say  to  the  peace  with 
Spain;  and  though  I  confess  I  am  not  much  rejoiced  at  it, 
yet  I  am  so  confident  of  my  dear  brother's  love,  and  the 
promise  he  hath  made  me,  not  to  forsake  our  cause,  that 
it  troubles  me  the  less.  I  must  desire  your  sweet  face  to 
continue  your  help  to  us,  in  this  business  which  concerns  me 
so  near;  and  in  spite  of  you  I  am  ever  constantly, 

<*Your  most  affectionat  frend, 
"  Elizabeth."  ^ 
But  the  diplomatist  with  whom  she  seems  to  have  corre- 
sponded most  regularly  was  the  fatherly  Sir  Thomas  Roe. 
To  "honest  Tom"  she  would  pour  out  all  her  woes;  nor 
would  she  hesitate  to  tell  him  her  private  opinion  of  her 
father's  disastrous  policy.  For  his  part,  he  and  Lady  Roe  were 
ever  filled  with  fervid  devotion  to  the  Queen.  **  My  poore 
wife,"  he  wrote,  "  is  overjoyed  to  see  her  name  in  your 
Majesty's  letter,  and  kysseth  it,  as  it  were  alive.  I  should 
bee  jealous  of  so  much  passion  to  anything  but  paper."" 
From  persons  of  either  sex  and  of  all  ages  the  admiration 
was  always  the  same.  Elizabeth  was  "the  best  woman 
living,"  "the  best  of  Queens  and  of  women,"  "the  Goddess 
of  her  sex,"  "the  most  incomparable  lady  of  this  age."' 
And  this  loyalty  to  the  Queen  of  Hearts  was  in  composi- 
tion as  diverse  as  the  subjects  by  whom  it  was  professed. 
Some  saw  in  her  a  princess  in  distress,  others  a  martyr 
to   Protestantism,    others  again  a  fair  lady  with  a  gracious 

1  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Carlisle,  June  12,  1630.  Everett -Green,  vol.  v^ 
pp.  482—3. 

2  Letters  and  Negotiations  of  Sir  Thos.  Roe,  p.  313. 

3  Balcanquell's  Despatch,  Oct.  8,  1620,  Germany  (States)  S.  P.  Foreign; 
Sir  D.  Carleton  to  Roe,  1622,  Letters  and  Negotiations,  p.  69;  Green,  vol.  v., 
p.  402. 


136  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

bearing  and  a  lively  wit.  The  cult  of  Elizabeth  was  natur- 
ally most  widely  spread  amongst  her  own  countrymen  in 
England.  It  was  the  Protestant  fervour  which  predomin- 
ated when  parliament  cruelly  punished  Floyd  for  daring 
to  laugh  at  "  Goodman  Palsgrave  and  Goodwife  Palsgrave  " 
having  to  take  to  their  heels  and  run  away  from  Prague. 
And  it  was  the  romantic  sentiment  which  principally  in- 
duced the  gentlemen  of  the  Middle  Temple  solemnly  to 
kiss  a  sword  and  vow  to  live  and  die  in  the  Queen's  de- 
fence. ^  But  there  were  hundreds  of  Englishmen  to  whom 
such  vows  were  not  mere  words  and  who  volunteered  to 
fight  for  Elizabeth's  cause  on  the  continent.  One  of  these, 
Lord  Cromwell,  an  officer  in  that  army  of  Mansfeld  which 
was  left  by  the  English  government  to  starve  in  Holland, 
wrote  home  in  the  following  gallant  strain: — "We  are  in 
that  disorder  that  we  are  weary  of  our  life ;  yet  to  leave 
the  Queen's  service  I  will  never ;  for  misery  with  her  sacred 
Majesty  is  a  thing  far  exceeding  any  bliss  else."-  And 
"her  sacred  Majesty"  also  had  her  own  pleasure  in  the 
adoration  of  those  who  came  to  fight  for  her.  In  1622 
she  had  written  to  Honest  Tom : — "  We  have  many  volun- 
teers here ; . . .  so  as  I  am  never  destitute  of  a  fool  to  laugh 
at:  when  one  comes,  another  goes."^ 

The  fame  of  one  of  these  chivalrous  admirers,  Christian 
of  Brunswick,  has  eclipsed  that  of  all  others.  He  was  a 
distant  cousin  of  Elizabeth  through  her  mother,  Anne  of 
Denmark,  and  being  a  cadet  of  his  family,  had  only 
been  provided  with  the  secularised  Bishopric  of  Halber- 
stadt.  He  has  been  already  mentioned  as  among  the  prin- 
cipal Protestant  generals,  and  he  was  perhaps  the  only 
one   of  them   who   sought   no   private  gains  and  remained 

1  Nichol's  "Progresses,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  751. 
3  Everett-Green.,  vol.  v.,  p.  442. 
'  Letters  and  Negotiations,  p.  74. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  137 

true  to  the  cause  without  wavering  so  long  as  he  lived. 
The  objects  for  which  he  fought  were  proclaimed  to  the 
world  on  his  standards:  some  bore  the  device,  ''Tout 
pour  Dieu  et  pour  EUe  " ;  other^  **  AUes  fiir  Ruhm  und  fiir 
ihr."  He  was  a  born  fighter;  and  had  taken  part  in  the 
war  "for  God"  and  ''for  Glory"  before  it  can  have  been 
"for  Her."  In  all  probability  it  was  not  till  the  royal 
fugitives  had  retired  to  Holland,  that  Christian  first  set 
eyes  on  EHzabeth.  There  is  possibly  truth  in  the  story 
that  the  Prince  then  plucked  a  glove  from  the  Queen's 
hand,  and  placing  it  in  his  helmet,  vowed  that  there  it 
should  remain  until  he  had  restored  her  husband  to  his 
rights.*  It  is  at  any  rate  certain  that  he  set  out  like  a 
knight  of  mediaeval  romance  to  devote  his  services  and 
if  necessary  his  life,  to  the  cause  of  the  distressed  Queen. 
On  one  occasion  he  was  overheard  to  say  that  "his  army 
was  not  in  the  field  for  the  service  of  Frederic,  but  of 
Elizabeth,  the  great  and  brave  Princess,  to  whom  he  had 
the  honour  to  belong  (gehoren)."- 

Christian,  however,  was  very  far  from  being  a  knight 
without  reproach.  In  war  he  was,  like  Mansfeld,  little 
better  than  a  brigand  chief.  But  if  he  was  a  bad  general, 
he  was  at  any  rate  as  reckless  of  his  own  person  as  of 
his  army.  To  his  contemporaries  he  was  simply  "the 
mad  Halberstadter " ;  but  to  later  generations  it  is  his 
"madness"  that  has  raised  him  above  the  commonplace, 
self-seeking  princes  of  the  time.  In  1621  Christian  raised 
an  army  at  his  own  expense.  In  the  following  year  he 
twice  suffered  defeat.  Of  the  second  battle  it  was  report- 
ed in  England :  "  Brunswick  had  three  horses  killed  under 
him.    At   last   upon   the    fourth    he   was    shot    in    the   left 

1  Opel  (in  Sybel,  Historische  Zeitschrift,  Bd.  XXIII.,  p.  305)  traces  the 
story  to  Lotichius,  Rerum  Germanicarum,  published  A.D.  1646. 

2  Villermont  quoted  in  Zeitschrift  fiir  Preussische  Geschichte,  1869,  p.  510. 


138  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

wrist,  yet  continued  divers  houres  fighting  and  with 
his  owne  hand  (I  say  after  the  hurt)  slue  six  men,  but 
the  hanging  downe  of  his  arme  and  holding  his  bridle 
occasioned  the  fire  to  come  into  it;  by  reason  whereof 
when  he  came  to  Breda,  his  arme  was  faine  to  be  cutt  of."  ^ 
It  was  amputated  amid  the  flare  of  trumpets;  and  whilst 
he  was  "devising  how  to  make  an  iron  arm  for  his  bridle 
hand"  he  sent  word  to  Elizabeth  that  he  had  still  another 
arm  and  a  life  remaining  for  her  service.  In  1623  the 
iron-handed  Prince  collected  another  army  and  was  again 
disastrously  defeated.  Having  now  exhausted  his  money 
and  credit  in  the  cause  of  the  Queen,  he  was  implored  by 
his  family  to  make  his  peace  with  the  Emperor  while  yet 
the  way  lay  open ;  but  strengthening  his  purpose  by  visits 
to  the  Hague,  he  altogether  refused  to  make  any  "servile 
submission",  and  continued  to  maintain  with  Mansfeld  a 
Protestant  army  in  the  North  East  of  Germany. 

What  was  the  precise  nature  of  Brunswick's  devo- 
tion to  Elizabeth — a  devotion  that  impelled  him  to  such 
sacrifices  in  her  behalf?  His  letters  throw  some  light  on 
the  question.  To  his  mother  he  wrote,  "  Angehende  dass 
ich  Lust  zum  Kriege  habe,  muss  ich  bekennen  dass  ich  es 
habe;    denn  es  mir  angeboren  noch  wol  haben  werde  biss 

an  mein  Ende,  und  wolte  Gott  ich  hette  es  nicht Dass 

es  aber  geschehen,  ist  aus  keiner  ander  Ursache  gewesen 
als  die  grosse  affection  so  ich  gehabt  habe  zu  der  Koni- 
ginge  in  Bohemen."  ^  It  was  evidently  no  affection  of  which 
he  could  be  ashamed.  To  Elizabeth  he  sent  a  letter  apo- 
logising for  his  first  defeat,  which  began  as  follows :  "  Madam, 
my  dearest  and  most  beloved  Queen,  the  fault  is  not  that 
of  your  most  faithful  and  affectionate  servant,  who  ever 
loves  and  cherishes  you.    I  entreat  you  most  humbly,  not  to 

1  Newsletter,  Harl.  MS.  389,  f.  224. 

'  Wittich  in  Zeitschrift  filr  Preussische  Geschichte,  1869,  P-  S^^- 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  139 

be  angry  with  your  faithful  slave  for  this  misfortune,  nor 
take  away  the  good  affection  which  your  Majesty  has 
hitherto  shown  me,  who  love  you  above  all  in  this  world." 
Then  after  continuing  the  letter  in  the  same  strain,  he  sub- 
scribed himself:  '*  Your  most  humblest^  most  constant,  most 
faithful,  most  affectionate,  and  most  obedient  slave,  who 
loves  you  and  will  love  you,  infinitely  and  incessantly  to 
death.   Christian."  ^ 

Elizabeth  on  her  part  certainly  encouraged  the  Prince 
to  devote  his  energies  to  the  Protestant  cause ;  and  for  the 
rest  seems  to  have  felt  for  him  a  cousinly  affection.  She 
begs  him  through  Carleton  not  to  expose  his  person,  since 
the  honour  of  a  general  is  not  that  of  a  common  soldier. 
In  one  of  her  letters  to  Roe,  shortly  after  pathetically 
remarking,  *'I  see  it  is  not  good  in  these  days  to  be  my 
frend,  for  they  have  ever  the  worse  luck,"  she  adds,  **I 
must  confess  I  am  in  a  little  trouble  what  will  become  of 
a  worthie  cosen  germain  of  mine,  the  due  Cristian  of 
Brunswic;  he  hath  ingaged  himself  onelie  for  my  sake  in 
our  quarrell."  ^  But  Frederic  was  still  warmer  in  his  praises: 
"God  knows,"  he  said,  *'that  I  love  him  like  a  brother."'^ 

In  1625  Christian  was  for  a  time  in  disgrace.  His  name 
was  connected  with  an  act  of  downright  brigandage  that  had 
been  committed  against  an  inoffensive  merchant.  Elizabeth 
was  seriously  displeased  and  refused  to  recommend  the  Prince 
for  a  vacant  Knighthood  of  the  Garter.  "  I  find  her  Highness," 
wrote  Carleton,  "  much  afflicted  with  the  accident ;  but  her  love 
to  the  person  whom  it  most  concerns  is  guided  by  this  rule, 
*  dum  quod  re  dignum  est  facis ' ;  and  she  is  no  less  troubled 
by  his  setting  light  by  it,  than  with  the  thing  itself."  * 


1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  388. 
-  Letters  and  Negotiations,  p.  74. 

*  Bromley  Letters,  p.  20. 

*  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  434 — 5. 


I40  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  *'the  mad  Halberstadter  " 
was  forgiven.  In  September,  before  setting  out  to  join  the 
Danish  army,  he  followed  Frederic  and  Elizabeth  to  the 
island  of  Goeree,  where  they  were  hunting,  and  there  he 
said  farewell  to  the  Queen  for  the  last  time. 

In  December  Elizabeth  wrote  to  his  sister  Sophie:  "Je 
voudrois  bien  sgavoir  comment  notre  tres  cher  cousin  le 
Due  Christian  se  porte,  car  il  y  a  long  temps  que  je  n'ay 
eu  de  ses  nouvelles."  About  the  same  time  Christian  was 
himself  complaining  to  the  same  Sophie  that  he  had  been 
forgotten  by  the  Queen.  His  sister's  reply  is  alone  extant : 
''Eure  Liebden  die  miissen  solche  opinion  von  der  Belle 
nicht  haben,  dass  sie  Ew.  L.  solte  vergessen  haben;  denn 
ich  weiss  besser;  denn  ich  bekomme  schier  kein  schreiben 
von  ihr,  oder  sie  gedenkt  Ew.  L.  daerinne ;  daruf  miigen 
sich  Ew.  L.  woll  versicheren ;  denn  sie  traget  Ew.  L. 
noch  gross  affection  zu."  Then  on  the  margin  she  added, 
"Mon  cher  frere,  je  bois  a  vous  la  sante  de  la  belle."  ^  A 
few  months  later  the  young  prince — he  was  but  27  years 
old— was  carried  off  by  a  fever. 

Yet  one  more  admirer  of  the  Queen  remains  to  be  men- 
tioned. William,  the  first  Lord  Craven,  was  as  prominently 
connected  with  the  later  years,  as  was  Christian  of 
Brunswick  with  the  earUer  period  of  her  exile.  Craven  was 
no  less  quixotic  than  Brunswick  in  his  devotion  to  the 
Queen,  and  he  also  first  distinguished  himself  in  her  cause 
by  service  in  the  field  and  by  his  personal  daring.  But 
the  two  men  were  of  very  different  species.  While  Bruns- 
wick reverted  to  the  Middle  Ages  for  his  ideal  of  chivalry, 
Craven  was  a  knight  of  the  modern  order.  Just  as  in  his 
old  age  he  made  the  suppression  of  fires  in  London  his 
philanthropic  profession,  so  until  the  death  of  the  Queen  of 

1   Wittich,  op.  cit.  pp.  521 — 2. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  141 

Bohemia  he  devoted  the  vast  wealth  which  he  had  inherited, 
as  well  as  his  own  personal  services,  to  alleviating  the  lot 
of  Elizabeth  and  her  family.  So  far  indeed  was  his  self- 
sacrifice  carried,  that  some  have  sought  to  explain  it  by 
supposing  a  secret  marriage  to  have  taken  place  between 
the  royal  widow  and  "the  little  lord"  who  was  ten  years 
her  junior.  But  the  suggestion  is  not  confirmed  by  facts, 
and  Craven  seems  to  have  regarded  himself  as  being  suf- 
ficiently rewarded  by  the  gratitude  of  one  who  was  not 
only  a  lady  in  distress,  but  also  a  Queen. 

If  any  proofs  were  really  necessary  of  the  entirely  Platonic 
character  of  Elizabeth's  numerous  friendships,  they  might  be 
found  in  her  whole-hearted  devotion  to  her  husband  while 
he  was  alive  and  to  his  memory  after  his  death.  In  Carle- 
ton's  words  she  was  "a  tender  wife  whose  care  of  her 
husband  doth  augment  with  his  misfortunes."  ^  When 
Frederic  was  away  at  the  wars  she  was  miserable;  when 
he  returned,  her  welcome  "proved  rather  an  ecstasy  than 
a  meeting ; "  and  when  she  realised  how  greatly  his  hard- 
ships had  changed  his  countenance,  the  woman  who  had 
endured  the  flight  from  Prague  with  greater  courage  than 
the  men,  "swounded  divers  times  together.'" 

So  long  as  he  lived,  Frederic  was  never  separated  from 
Elizabeth  without  exchanging  letters  as  affectionate  and  as 
numerous  as  in  their  earlier  years.  His  letters  are  the  only 
side  of  the  correspondence  that  has  been  preserved.  They 
are  not  the  productions  of  a  great  intelligence.  Loosely 
strung  together  are  items  of  gossip  and  political  news,  plain 
statements  of  his  own  occupations,  and  small  talk  about 
clothes  and  domestic  worries.  Everywhere,  however,  the 
reality  of  his  affection  is  brought  out  by  the  small  touches : 
he  remembers   her   birth-day,    he  wishes  she  were  hunting 

*  Carleton's  Despatch,  Aug.  23,  1622,  Harl.  MS.  1580.  f.  243. 
3  Harl.  MS.  389.  f.  245. 


142  FIVE  gTUART  PRINCESSES 

by  his  side,  or  he  assures  her  that  she  never  leaves  his 
thoughts.  ^ 

Scarcely  a  year  of  their  exile  passed  without  a  son  or 
daughter  being  added  to  the  Palatine  family.  But  the 
Queen  saw  little  of  her  children.  Some  of  the  elder  ones 
remained  for  long  at  Berlin  in  the  charge  of  their  grand- 
mother, Louisa  Juliana.  For  the  younger  ones  a  royal 
nursery  was  established  at  Leyden.  There  they  could  be 
reared  more  cheaply  than  at  the  Hague.  Elizabeth  was  too 
much  preoccupied  by  her  own  troubles  and  pleasures,  and 
her  offspring  was  too  numerous  for  there  to  exist  between 
them  any  very  intimate  sympathy.  The  children  were  treated 
much  as  she  herself  had  been  in  her  girlhood.  Care  was  taken 
that  they  should  be  brought  up  strictly,  and  they  were  provided 
with  a  sound  religious  and  general  education.  For  two  of  her 
sons,  however,  she  seems  to  have  felt  a  special  affection — 
Rupert,  the  passionate  boy  who  had  been  born  in  the  days  of 
her  magnificence  at  Prague,  and  Frederic  Henry,  her  first-born. 

Englishmen  loved  to  imagine  that  their  other  Prince  Henry 
had  come  to  life  again  in  this  latter  boy,  so  full  of  promise 
and  so  devoted  to  military  exercises.  Perhaps  it  is  possible 
even  now  to  trace  the  resemblance  in  a  childish  letter  which 
the  nine  year  old  Frederic  Henry  wrote  to  King  James : — 

"  I  kisse  your  hand.    I  would  faine  see  yo*^  Ma^^^.    I  can  say 

Nominativo  hie,  haec,  hoc,  and  all  5  declensions,  and  a  part  of 

pronomen,  and  a  part  of  verbum.    I  have  two  horses  alive  that 

can   go  up  my  stairs,  a  black  horse  and  a  chestnut  horse. 

"I  pray  God  to  bless  your  Majestic. 

"Your  Majestie's  Obedient  Grand-child, 
"  Frederic  Henry."  ^ 

1  Von  Aretin,  Beytrage,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  172 — 209,  and  260 — 278;  Bromley 
Letters,  pp.  5 — 66. 

3  Letters  to  King  James  the  Sixth.    Maitland  Club.  1835. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  143 

Certainly  the  fate  of  Elizabeth's  eldest  son  was  as  sad 
as  had  been  the  fate  of  her  eldest  brother.  In  1629,  a  few 
days  after  his  fifteenth  birthday,  the  Prince  was  taken  by 
his  father  to  inspect  the  Dutch  fleet  which  had  just  returned 
from  a  successful  expedition  in)  the  West  Indies.  As  the 
party  was  returning  by  water  from  Amsterdam,  their  boat 
suddenly  came  into  collision  with  another  vessel.  Frederic 
himself  was  saved  by  a  sailor.  But  the  young  Prince  was 
drowned.  "Mediis  tranquillus  in  undis"  had  been  the 
favourite  motto  of  the  boy  in  his  troubled  youth,  the  motto 
which  he  had  cut  with  a  diamond  on  his  window-pane.  On 
the  next  day  his  body  was  washed  ashore.  But  the  cries 
of  his  son,  calling  "Save  me.  Father,  save  me",  never  ceased 
to  ring  in  Frederic's  ears.  ^ 

The  summer  and  autumn  of  these  dark  years  were  chiefly 
spent  by  the  ex-King  and  Queen  in  hunting  in  the  country. 
At  Rhenen  on  the  wooded  bank  of  the  Rhine,  Frederic 
had  diverted  his  mind  from  brooding  over  his  misfortunes 
by  planning  and  building  a  neat  house  after  the  Italian 
manner — his  "  Palazzo  Renense  ",  as  it  was  christened.  Here 
he  would  escape  from  the  hateful  canaille  of  the  Hague, 
and,  alone  with  his  wife,  enjoy  the  peaceful  life  of  the 
country.  **Here,"  wrote  the  Queen  a  few  weeks  before 
the  birth  of  Sophia,  "  they  are  hunting  as  hard  as  they  can, 
and  I  think  I  was  born  for  it,  for  I  never  had  my  health 
better  in  my  life."  ^ 

The  year  1630  which  saw  the  birth  of  Sophia,  was  a 
turning-point  in  the  history  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  In 
the  spring,  Frederic  had  contemplated  making  a  humble 
confession  of  his  past  sins,  and  surrendering  his  own  rights 

1     Benger,   vol.  ii.,  pp.  260 — i ;  Commentaire  de  la  Vie  et  de  la  Mort  de 
Messire  Christophe  Vicomte  de  Dohna.  p.  303. 
*    Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  484. 


144  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

to  the  Palatinate  in  favour  of  his  children.  By  the  winter 
he  was  once  more  buoyant  with  hope.  The  Emperor  had 
been  compelled  by  the  Electors  to  dismiss  Wallenstein,  and 
Gustavus  Adolphus  had  landed  in  Germany.  In  the  Swedish 
King  the  Protestants  found  for  the  first  time  a  statesman 
who  could  unite  Lutherans  and  Calvinists,  and  a  general 
who  could  lead  his  troops  to  victory.  Throughout  1631 
Gustavus  pursued  his  conquering  course  in  Northern  Germany. 
At  the  opening  of  1632  Frederic  joined  the  army  of 
the  great  King,  and  thus  had  the  satisfaction,  first  of  seeing 
the  Swedes  recover  from  the  Catholics  a  large  part  of  the 
Palatinate,  and  then  of  accompanying  them  on  their  victo- 
rious march  to  Munich,  where  he  inspected  **the  handsome 
house  of  his  good  cousin",  the  Duke  of  Bavaria.  Eliz- 
abeth did  not  pretend  to  pity  Maximilian.  To  **  Honest 
Harry"  (Sir  Henry  Vane)  she  wrote,  "The  King  of  Sweden 
doth  but  pay  him  for  what  he  lent  us."  ^ 

But  this  elation  did  not  last  long.  In  the  autumn  Frederic 
was  back  again  in  the  Palatinate,  wandering  about  its  wastes 
and  ruins,  still  as  a  mere  private  person,  still  forced  to 
assuage  his  impatient  spirit  with  unsubstantial  promises; 
for  Gustavus,  in  spite  of  his  good  will  to  the  Bohemian 
King,  was  too  businesslike  to  put  into  his  incapable  hands 
either  the  reconquered  territory  or  an  army.  Frederic  felt 
keenly  the  refusal  of  Gustavus.  His  letters  to  his  wife 
during  the  autumn  show  that  he  was  melancholy  and  de- 
pressed. He  could  not  withstand,  as  she  had  successfully 
done,  the  buffetings  of  fortune.  The  reverses  of  the  last 
twelve  years  had  left  their  mark  both  upon  his  spirit  and 
his  person.  Already  his  heavy  countenance  and  listless 
eyes  showed  him  to  be  a  worn-out  man. 

In  November  he  was  seized  with  a  fever  at  Mainz.     Then 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  502. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  145 

came  the  news  that  the  hero  King,  on  whom,  for  the  last 
two  years,  Frederic  had  based  his  poUtical  hopes,  was 
lying  dead  on  the  field  of  Liitzen.  For  a  few  days 
Frederic  struggled  with  his  plague-like  sickness.  He  wrote 
to  Elizabeth  cheeringly  telling  her  that  the  fever  had  left 
him,  and  adding  that  could  he  but  live  to  see  her  once 
again,  he  could  die  contented.  But  a  few  days  later,  on 
November  29th,  1632,  he  expired.  He  died  as  he  lived, 
confident  in  Providence,  and  full  of  thoughts  for  his  wife 
and  children. 

Unfortunate  as  ever,  Frederic  has  been  severely  treated 
by  historians.  But  with  those  who  study  him  as  a  man, 
rather  than  as  a  political  agent,  the  indignation  called 
forth  by  the  folly  with  which  he  lightly  plunged  Europe 
into  war,  and  the  irritation  naturally  aroused  by  his  obstinate 
yet  weak  ambition  which  prevented  all  peace,  may  well 
be  buried  in  a  profound  compassion.  Endowed  by  nature 
with  sufficient  intellect  to  fit  him  to  play  the  part  of  a 
country  squire,  educated  to  be  a  fervent  Calvinist  and  an 
elegant  courtier,  the  man  could  scarcely  help  foundering 
amid  the  storm  of  European  politics.  He  strove  in  vain 
to  fit  himself  for  his  task.  But  he  could  never  learn  to 
see  beneath  the  outer  surface  of  men  and  things  political. 
It  would  have  needed  a  miracle  to  translate  him  into  a 
leader  either  in  peace  or  in  war. 

The  very  virtues  of  Frederic's  private  character  were 
his  bane  in  public  life.  His  actions  were  ever  intended  to 
be  for  the  best.  It  was  a  sense  of  religious  duty  which 
impelled  him  to  his  original  mistakes.  It  was  a  sense  of 
personal  honour  and  of  what  was  owing  to  his  children 
which  forbade  him  to  recover  his  position  by  a  timely  sub- 
mission. And  not  the  least  important  of  his  injurious 
excellences  must  be  reckoned  his  devotion  to  his  wife. 
Frederic  was  wont  affectionately  to  call  Elizabeth  his  "  Star  " : 


146  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

but  it  was  a  malign  influence  that  she  unconsciously  ex- 
ercised on  her  husband's  life.  Without  reverting  to  the 
part  taken  by  Elizabeth  in  persuading  him  to  accept  the  fatal 
crown,  it  may  be  said  that  it  was  largely  for  the  sake  of  EHza- 
beth's  society  that  he  neglected  his  opportunities  for  infusing 
new  Ufe  and  order  into  the  Bohemian  revolt:  that  it  was 
in  order  to  be  with  Elizabeth  that  he  refrained  from  joining 
the  Bohemian  army  until  it  was  in  full  retreat  before  the 
enemy,  and  that,  by  returning  to  Prague  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, he  was  absent  from  the  critical  battle  and  thereby 
seemed  to  his  soldiers  and  to  the  world  to  have  repudiated 
his  own  cause.  Moreover,  it  was  because  he  could  not 
endure  to  leave  Elizabeth  that  he  fled  from  Prague;  and 
then  it  was  in  order  to  be  with  her  at  the  birth  of  Maurice 
that  he  deserted  his  kingdom.  It  was  in  no  small  measure 
due  to  Frederic's  respect  for  Elizabeth's  wishes,  and  Eliza- 
beth's English  sympathies,  that,  contrary  to  his  natural  in- 
clinations, he  repeatedly  signed  away  to  James  and  Charles 
his  freedom  of  action,  and  consumed  ten  years  of  exile  in 
reliance  on  English  promises  that  were  never  fulfilled. 
However,  although  it  was  to  his  wife  that  some  of  Frede- 
ric's misfortunes  were  due,  it  was  from  her  also  that  his 
life  derived  almost  all  of  its  happiness. 

It  was  when  the  exiled  Queen  was  looking  forward  to 
her  husband's  early  return  to  escort  her  again  to  their  Pala- 
tinate, that  it  was  suddenly  announced  to  her  that  Frederic 
was  dead.  For  three  days  she  neither  spoke  nor  slept,  nor 
ate,  nor  cried.  Men  thought  that  she  would  not  long  sur- 
vive Frederic. 

Yet  she  was  again  to  show  that  she  was  "inflexible  to 
the  blows  of  time."  ^    She  resolved  to  live  in  order  to  carry 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  536. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  147 

on  Frederic's  care  for  their  children.  When  Charles,  with 
an  exquisite  feeling,  entreated  his  "  dearest  and  only  sister  " 
to  come  and  live  with  him  at  once  that  they  might  com- 
fort each  other,  Elizabeth  excused  herself  chiefly  on  the 
ground  that  ''the  last  request  that  their  father  made  me 
was  to  do  all  that  I  could  for  them  [the  children],  which  I 
wish  to  do  so  far  as  lies  in  my  power,  loving  them  better 
because  they  are  his  than  my  own."  ^  Nor  was  her  grief 
ephemeral.  After  five  months  she  wrote  to  Roe :  **  though 
I  make  a  good  show  in  company,  yet  I  can  never  have 
any  more  contentment  in  this  world,  for  God  knows  I  had 
none  but  that  which  I  took  in  his  company,  and  he  did 
the  same  in  mine."  ^  So  long  as  she  lived  her  rooms  were 
draped  in  black,  and  in  memory  of  Frederic  special  days 
were  set  apart  for  fasting. 

As  soon  as  Elizabeth  recovered  from  her  first  shock 
she  began  with  her  usual  energy  to  agitate  throughout 
Europe  in  the  cause  of  Charles  Louis,  her  eldest 
surviving  son.  To  every  prince  who  could  be  of  any 
assistance  she  wrote,  begging  him  to  use  his  influence 
in  procuring  the  restitution  of  the  Palatinate  that  had 
been  promised  to  her  husband  by  Gustavus.  She  found 
no  difficulty  in  picking  up  the  thread  of  Frederic's  diplo- 
macy, since  from  the  early  years  of  their  exile  she  had 
herself  taken  an  important  part  in  many  of  the  negotiations. 
Charles  L,  in  fact,  had  not  disguised  his  opinion  that  "the 
grey  mare  is  the  better  horse,"  and  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  dealing  with  his  sister  rather  than  with  her  husband. 

Elizabeth  intelligently  appreciated  the  general  situation 
of  German  affairs,  and  possessed  decided  views  as  to  her 
own  pohcy.     In  the  first  place  she  was  for  "tout  ou  rien."  ^ 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  512 — 4. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  516. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  550.  Elizabeth  to  Roe,  1636. 


148  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Her  son  must  receive  back  the  Upper  and  the  Lower 
Palatinate  as  well  as  the  Electoral  privileges.  In  the  second 
place,  she  would  ^'rather  have  him  restored  by  force  than 
by  treaty."  Her  correspondence  with  Archbishop  Laud  on 
this  point  is  full  of  interest.  "  I  do  not  think  he  [Charles 
Louis]  will  be  restored  fully,"  she  wrote,  **  otherwise  than 
by  arms:  sixteen  years'  experience  makes  me  believe  it." 
Then  Laud  remonstrated :  "  It  cannot  be  all  one  to  Christen- 
dom, nor  to  yourself,  to  have  him  restored  be  it  never  so 
honourably,  by  arms  as  by  treaty.  It  may  be  there  is 
soldier's  council  in  this,  Madam,  but  I  am  a  priest,  and  as 
such,  I  can  never  think  it  all  one  to  recover  by  effusion 
of  Christian  blood,  and  without  it,  provided  that  without 
blood  right  may  be  had."  And  to  this  Elizabeth  replied: 
"  I  confess,  as  a  woman  and  a  Christian,  I  should  rather 
desire  it  [the  restitution]  by  peace,  but  I  have  lived  so  long 
amongst  soldiers  and  wars,  as  it  makes  one  to  me  as  easy 
as  the  other  and  as  familiar,  especially  when  I  remember 
never  to  have  read  in  the  chronicles  of  my  ancestors,  that 
any  king  of  England  got  any  good  by  treaties,  but  most 
commonly  lost  by  them,  and,  on  the  contrary,  by  wars 
alone  made  good  peaces.  It  makes  me  doubt  the  same 
fortune  runs  in  a  blood,  and  that  the  king  my  dear  brother 
will  have  the  same  luck.  I  know  your  profession  forbids 
you  to  like  this  scribbling  of  mine,  yet  I  am  confident  you 
cannot  condemn  me  for  it,  having  hitherto  seen  little 
cause  to  have  a  contrary  opinion,  by  my  experience  in 
this  our  great  business :  all  I  fear  is  that  you  will  think  I 
have  too  warring  a  mind  for  my  sex;  but  the  necessity 
of  my  fortune  has  made  it."  ^ 

In    the    third    principle    of   her    policy    she   showed  less 
common-sense.     It   was   to   England   in  particular  that  she 

I  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  pp.  552 — 3. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  149 

looked  for  the  forces  that  were  to  reconquer  the  Palatinate. 
She  did  not  realise  that  in  England  the  courtiers  and 
Puritans  who  had  at  one  time  rivalled  each  other  in  devo- 
tion to  her  cause,  were  now  diverting  their  attention  to 
their  own  insular  troubles.  But  experience  should  have 
taught  her  that  in  German  affairs  English  help  was  a 
broken  reed  on  which  to  lean.  It  was  largely  a  personal 
prejudice  against  the  "ulcerous  priest"^  who  was  ruling 
France  in  the  name  of  Louis  XIIL,  which  blinded  her  to 
the  facts  of  the  situation.  Even  after  1634  when  the  for- 
tresses of  the  Palatinate,  on  being  evacuated  by  the  Swedes, 
had  to  be  occupied  by  French  troops  on  account  of 
Charles'  inability  to  supply  men  for  the  garrisons,  Eliza- 
beth continued  to  cherish  the  vain  hope  that  her  brother 
would  one  day  send  to  the  continent  armies  instead  of 
ambassadors. 

At  length,  in  1638,  the  Queen  saw  that  for  which  she 
had  long  agitated,  her  son  fighting  for  his  own  rights  at 
the  head  of  his  own  forces.  The  undertaking  had  been 
rendered  possible  by  Lord  Craven's  generosity.  But  it  was 
a  desperate  attempt;  and  the  troops  were  easily  scattered 
on  the  first  occasion  on  which  they  came  into  contact  with 
the  enemy. 

EHzabeth  had  done  all  that  she  could  in  her  son's  be- 
half, and  had  failed.  The  English  King,  moreover,  on 
whose  support  her  schemes  had  rested,  soon  after  became 
involved  in  the  troubles  of  the  Great  RebelHon.  And  so 
to  Charles  Louis,  who  was  by  this  time  of  sufficient  age, 
Elizabeth  gradually  resigned   the  management  of  his  affairs. 

The  refugees  had  still  to  watch  the  fightings  and  ne- 
gotiations of  ten  long  years.  But  at  length,  in  1648,  their 
rights  were  partially  recognised,  and  by  the  treaty  of  West- 

1  Everett-Green,  vol.  v.,  p.  563,  Elizabeth  to  Roe.    Sept.  8,  1639. 


ISO  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

phalia  Charles  Louis  was  restored  to  the  Lower  Palatinate 
and  the  Electoral  dignity. 

This  Peace  might  have  been  expected  to  put  an  end  to 
all  Elizabeth's  woes.  Now  her  exile  should  have  ceased, 
and  she  should  have  returned  to  the  Palatinate  to  quietly- 
live  out  the  remainder  of  her  life,  surrounded  by  her 
family,  and  enjoying  the  wealth  and  high  position  to 
which  she  had  been  accustomed  as  a  girl.  How  different 
was  to  be  the  reality  I  This  year,  1648,  but  opened 
for  Elizabeth  a  period  of  greater  distress,  of  more 
complete  misfortune  than  that  which  she  had  hitherto 
experienced.  She  was  now  to  learn  the  hard  pinch  of 
genuine  poverty,  the  cruel  desertion  of  some  of  her  own 
children,  and  the  ruin  of  almost  all  her  friends  and 
kindred. 

In  January  of  the  following  year  came  the  news  of  the 
execution  of  her  brother,  **Babie  Charles",  whom  she 
could  only  remember  as  a  weakly,  affectionate  boy.  It 
was  no  ordinary  bereavement  to  her,  for  with  the  abolition 
of  the  English  monarchy,  she  was  deprived  of  her  chief 
means  of  subsistence.  Until  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war 
some  c£'20,ooo  had  been  annually  assigned  her  from  England. 
The  Parliament  had  then  continued  the  grant  at  the  rate 
of  d£^i  2,000  a  year — a  favour  which  was  in  part  a  recogni- 
tion of  Elizabeth's  sufferings  in  the  cause  of  Protestantism, 
and  in  part  the  consequence  of  Charles  Louis'  adhesion 
to  the  Parliamentary  cause,  and  of  her  own  judicious  re- 
fusal to  flaunt  her  sympathy  with  the  Cavaliers.  But  the 
allowances  had  never  been  regularly  paid,  and  by  1649 
the  arrears  due  from  England  amounted  to  d^  100,000. 
Meanwhile  her  own  debts  at  the  Hague  had  risen  to  at 
least  ^50,000.  And  thus  when  the  new-born  Common- 
wealth at  length  entirely  cancelled  her  pension,  the  exiled 


CHARLES     LOUIS,     ELECTOR     PALATINE. 


To  face  p.  151. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  151 

Queen  found  herself  in  a  hopelessly  insolvent  condition. 
With  the  slender  allowance  that  she  still  received  from  the 
Dutch  estates,  she  had  to  exist  like  other  decayed  gentry, 
living  a  life  of  comparative  poverty  amidst  some  faded 
show  of  earlier  magnificence,  and  trusting  to  the  forbear- 
ance of  her  creditors  and  to  the  generosity  of  her  friends. 
Many  of  the  latter,  however,  were  themselves  exiles  and 
destitute.  And  when  in  1653  the  English  estates  of  Lord 
Craven  were  confiscated  by  the  Commonwealth,  Elizabeth 
was  probably  as  great  a  sufferer  as  **the  little  lord" 
himself. 

As  her  revenue  from  England  dwindled  away,  the  exiled 
Queen  naturally  turned  to  the  new  source  which  seemed  to 
have  been  presented  just  at  the  right  moment  by  the 
recovery  of  the  Palatinate.  She  besought  her  son  to  pay 
her  the  dowry  that  was  her  due  from  that  territory.  Charles 
Louis,  however,  had  determined  to  nurse  his  lands  back  to 
prosperity ;  and  was  only  prepared  to  hand  over  small  sums 
to  Elizabeth.  The  discord  that  ensued  between  the  mother 
warmly  begging  for  money,  and  the  son  coldly  refusing  it, 
is  an  unpleasant  subject.  Some  short  quotations  from  the 
correspondence  will  sufifice  to  give  an  idea  of  the  tenour 
of  the  whole.  In  1653  Elizabeth  wrote  to  Lord  Craven 
whom  she  had  sent  to  Heidelberg  on  her  behalf: — "My 
Lord,  I  have  received  both  your  letters  and  find  Httle 
comfort  in  them  concerning  my  own  particular;  it  may  be 
my  next  will  tell  you  I  have  no  more  to  eat:  this  is  no 
parable,  but  the  certain  truth,  for  there  is  no  money  nor 
credit  for  any;  and  this  week  if  there  be  none  found,  I 
shall  have  neither  meat  nor  candles.  I  know  my  son 
thinks  that  I  should  be  rid  of  all  my  jewels,  because  he 
thinks  he  doth  not  deserve  so  well  of  me  that  he  should 
share  in  them  after  my  death,  but  that  will  do  him  no 
good,    for    I    can  leave  to  my  children  what  he  owes  me. 


152  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

which  will  trouble  him  more  than  my  jewels  are  worth."  ^ 
In  1655  she  writes  to  the  Elector: — "I  earnestly  entreat 
you  to  do  so  much  for  me  as  to  augment  that  money 
that  you  give  me,  and  then  I  shall  make  a  shift  to  live 
a  little  something  reasonable.  I  pray  do  this  for  me,  you 
will  much  comfort  me  who  am  in  so  ill  a  condition  as  it 
takes  all  my  contentment  from  me."  ^  It  is  impossible  not 
to  sympathise  with  Elizabeth's  indignation  at  the  ungrate- 
ful parsimony  of  her  son,  which  formed  such  a  contrast  to 
her  own  generosity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  the  conduct  of  Charles  Louis,  who,  while  him- 
self living  on  3,000  guilders  a  year,  was  asked  for  7,000 
by  his  extravagant  mother.  But  in  the  later  developments 
of  the  dispute  the  Elector  became  ungracious  beyond  all 
excuse.  He  refused  to  restore  her  dower  house,  he  sent 
her  wine  that  was  *' stark  naught"^  (if  Elizabeth's  own 
account  can  be  believed)  and  he  even  thought  of  taking 
from  her  some  of  the  furniture  at  the  Hague. 

Charles  Louis,  of  all  Elizabeth's  children,  caused  her  the 
bitterest  disappointment :  but  her  family  as  a  whole  brought 
her  small  joy.  Three,  in  addition  to  Frederic  Henry,  died  in 
childhood.  Of  those  that  reached  maturity,  not  one  stayed 
by  her  side  to  the  end.  Their  well-known  careers— so 
varied  and  so  unfortunate — are  among  the  most  pathetic 
pages  of  Stuart  history.  For  a  brilliant  moment  these 
pauper  Palatines  flashed  across  Europe.  Then  they  died  out, 
and  left  behind  them  no  other  trace  of  their  existence  than 
that  mockery  of  their  bright  genius  —  the  House  of  Hanover- 
Brunswick.  Rupert  and  Maurice  were  seen  heading  the 
charging  Cavaliers  of  England,  or  scouring  the  high  seas  as 


1  Everett-Green,  vol.  vi.,  p.  38. 
3  Bromley  Letters,  pp.  203 — 4. 

'  Queen   of  Bohemia   to  Sec,    Nicholas,    Aug.   2,  1655,  Archaeologia,  vol. 
xxxvii.,  p.  231. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  153 

royalist  pirates.  Maurice's  ship  was  lost  in  a  storm,  and 
Rupert  thenceforward  vainly  tried,  amid  the  courtiers  of 
Charles  II.,  to  forget  the  bitterness  of  his  sorrows  by  com- 
manding the  English  fleets  and  by  devoting  himself  to 
scientific  invention.  Nor  were  the  other  sons  less  adventurous. 
Edward — "Wilful  Ned"  as  Elizabeth  called  him — eloped 
with  Princess  Anne  de  Gonzague,  a  gay  Parisian  heiress, 
turned  Catholic,  then  insulted  the  envoys  of  Cromwell  at 
the  Hague,  and  finally  ended  his  days  fighting  for  the 
French  King.  Philip,  the  youngest  boy,  began  life  by 
killing  D'Epinay,  a  Frenchman  who  possessed — so  the 
Palatine  children  thought — too  great  an  influence  over  the 
Bohemian  Queen,  and  died,  when  28  years  old,  a  soldier 
in  the  service  of  Venice.  Or,  if  the  fate  of  the  daughters 
is  regarded,  there  is  the  philosophic  EHzabeth,  the  friend 
and  correspondent  of  Leibniz,  a  handsome,  portionless 
Princess  whom  the  young  Princes  that  passed  through  the 
Hague  used  to  adore,  but  whom  they  were  not  allowed 
to  marry,  who,  therefore,  as  Abbess  of  a  Lutheran  nunnery, 
consoled  with  good  works  her  lonely  old  age.  Or  there 
is  the  playful  brunette,  Louise,  a  pupil  of  Honthorst  and 
herself  an  artist  of  no  small  merit,  she  who,  turning  Catholic 
in  1657,  stole  secretly  away  from  her  mother's  court,  and 
died  at  the  age  of  88,  after  a  happy  life  as  Abbess  of 
Maubuisson.  And  there  is  the  pretty  Henriette  with  her 
flaxen  hair  and  her  pink  and  white  complexion,  skilled  in 
all  the  arts  of  housewifery  and  needlework,  who  was  mar- 
ried to  the  Prince  of  Transylvania  and  died  soon  after  she 
had  reached  her  distant  home.  And,  lastly,  there  is  the 
lively  Sophia,  whose  fate  it  was  to  be  the  ancestress  of  the 
Hanoverian  Georges. 

It  must  have  been  chiefly  due  to  Elizabeth  herself  that 
not  one  member  of  her  family  was  dull  or  commonplace. 
If  such  varied  brilliancy  were  not  the  outcome  of  her  Stuart 


154  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

blood,  then  it  must  be  attributed  to  the  rigorous  education 
with  which  the  exiled  Queen  equipped  her  children,  who, 
she  knew,  would  have  to  make  their  own  way  in  the  world, 
and  to  the  sharpening  which  their  wits  received  when,  after 
their  manumission  from  the  Leyden  nursery,  they  were 
gathered  round  their  mother  at  the  Hague,  a  family  party 
alive  with  gossip  and  practical  joking. 

And  Elizabeth  must  also  be  held  responsible  for  some 
of  the  unhappiness  which  came  to  her  children.  The 
family  party  broke  up  quickly.  By  1657  all  her  sons 
and  daughters  had  gone  out  into  the  world ;  and  they  had 
not  been  sorry  to  leave  her  side.  Here  truly  is  seen  the 
great  want  in  Elizabeth's  character.  She  had  overcome 
the  blows  of  fortune  by  throwing  herself  with  girlish  im- 
petuosity into  the  occupations  and  diversions  of  the  moment. 
Thus  with  her  brave  spirits  and  gracious  ways  she  had 
been  able  to  charm  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  mankind. 
But  the  deeper  side  of  her  nature  had  been  stunted ;  and 
hence  it  was  that  she  failed  to  win  the  love  of  her  own 
children.  It  was  possible  for  Princess  Sophia  to  declare 
that  her  mother  cared  in  the  first  place  for  her  monkeys 
and  her  dogs.  ^ 

And  yet  the  Queen  of  Hearts  was  by  no  means  heartless. 
Her  love  for  her  husband  had  been  deep  and  lasting.  And 
for  many  others  her  affection  had  been  neither  slight  nor 
transitory.  Thus  to  Mary  of  Orange,  the  daughter  of 
Charles  I.,  she  seems  to  have  been  much  more  warmly 
attached  than  to  her  own  daughters.  Elizabeth's  letters  in 
the  later  years  of  her  life  abound  with  references  to  this 
*'deare  Niece;"  and  when  Princess  Mary  goes  away  the 
Hague  becomes  "verie  dull.""  The  following  letter  is 
characteristic   of  the  large  correspondence  which  Elizabeth 

1  Memoiren  der  Herzogin  Sophie,  ed.  Kocher,  p.  34. 

2  Archseologia,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  241. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA.  155 

addressed     to      Nicholas,     the     secretary     of    the     exiled 
Charles  II. : — 

**Mr.  Sec,  I  ame  verie  glade  your  goute  is  departing. 
My  colde  is  gone  also,  but  before  it  left  me  I  was  verie 
angrie  at  it,  for  when  my  dear  Niece  came  hither  I  coulde 
not  go  to  her  for  my  colde,  nor  she  to  me  for  her  weari- 
ness, but  yett  we  mett  at  last.  I  finde  her  verie  leane 
and  paile,  which  troubles  me  verie  much;  but  if  she  will 
exercise  enough,  she  will  soon  be  well.  After  I  had  my 
first  child  I  was  just  so,  but  I  rumbled  it  away  with  riding 
a  hunting.  I  tell  her  of  it,  but  she  is  sadly  lasie.  I  doe 
wish  with  all  my  heart  the  Dons  woulde  be  wise,  and  not 
goe  on  theire  slow,  slow  pace,  but  make  hast  to  take  your 
incomparable  master  by  the  hands.  There  is  no  news 
heere,  onelie  that  Mons.  Chaunt  is  gone  for  France.  I  know 
not  yett  who  comes  in  his  place,  which  is  all  I  write  now 
to  you  from  Your  most  affectionat  frend, 

It  is  from  letters  such  as  this  and  from  the  accounts  of 
English  visitors  to  the  Hague  who  never  omitted  to  kiss 
the  Queen  of  Bohemia's  hand,  that  we  can  obtain  some 
insight  into  her  life  in  her  old  age.  Though  poor  and 
deserted,  she  nevertheless  maintains  the  gracious  dignity 
and  outward  show  of  royalty.  She  is  equally  reluctant  to 
surrender  the  habits  of  her  youth.  Surrounded  by  her  dogs, 
she  leads  the  same  active,  sporting  life  as  of  old.  To 
Montrose  she  writes  from  Rhenen  in  1649,  **  How  we  pass 
our  time  here,  is  soon  said,  for  all  is  but  walking  abroad 
and  shooting,  which  now  I  have  renewed  myself  in."" 
Moreover,  she  takes  as  keen  an  interest  as  ever  in  current 

1  Queen  of  Bohemia  to  Sec.  Nicholas,  Nov.  i8,  1655,  Archaeologia,  vol. 
xxxvii.,  p.  239. 

2  Montrose  Memorials  edited  for  Maitland  Club,  p.  389. 


156  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

politics.  The  execution  of  Charles  I.  has  made  her  an 
uncompromising  Royalist.  When  Montrose  sends  her  his 
picture  she  hangs  it  in  her  bedroom  to  fright  *'  the  brethern."  ^ 
As  for  Cromwell  she  cannot  think  of  him  without  bitter 
jibes  at  ''that  arch-rebel,"  "his  pretious  highness."  If  he  is 
not  the  "divell"  himself,  "sure  Cromwell  is  the  beast  in 
the  Revelations  that  all  kings  and  nations  doe  worship." 
''There  never  was  so  great  an  hypocritl"  she  exclaims; 
"I  wish  him  as  ill  a  new  year  as,  I  thank  you,  you  wish 
me  a  good."^ 

But  it  is  the  old  amusements  that  mostly  occupy  her 
thoughts.  One  week  she  reports  that  she  has  been  "  de- 
bauched in  sitting  up  late  to  see  dancing"  and  by  "late" 
the  gay  old  lady  means  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.'  At 
other  times  it  is  the  mkskings  which  to  her  seem  never 
to  have  grown  stale  by  repetition,  that  she  records ;  or  the 
comments  of  the  dour  Calvinist  divines,  or  a  miscellany  of 
gossipping  items  that  would  make  excellent  copy  for  a 
modern  society  newspaper. 

She  is  perfectly  frank  as  to  her  likes  and  dislikes.  Especi- 
ally does  she  show  her  jealousy  of  the  other  ex-Queen,  the 
clever  Christina  of  Sweden.  She  reports  that  the  latter 
persecutes  the  Archduke  at  Brussels  "  verie  close  with  her 
companie,  for  you  know  he  is  a  modest  man.  I  have 
written  the  king  some  particulars  of  it  which  are  rare 
ons."*  Unfortunately,  these  rare  particulars  are  lost,  but 
Elizabeth  has  great  pleasure  in  mentioning  at  another  time 
that  "  Queen  Mother  of  Sweden  is  dead ;  her  daughter 
seems  much  troubled  at  it,  which  makes  her  rap  out  with 


1  Montrose  Memorials,  p.  384. 

2  Ai-chseol.,   vol.   xxxvii.,   pp.  241 ;   Evelyn's  Diary,  Edition  1879,  vol.  iv., 
p.  223;  Montrose  Memorials,  p.  385. 

3  Evelyn's  Diary,  vol.  iv.,  p    223. 

4  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  222. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  157 

manie  an  oth."*  Elizabeth,  the  old  lady  of  sixty,  is  un- 
mistakably the  same  Elizabeth  as  in  earlier  days.  Her 
merriness  has  not  been  abated  by  her  years  of  poverty 
and  misfortune.  Her  letters  show  that  she  can  still  crack 
her  jokes  with  her  elderly  beaux.  To  Lord  Finch  she 
writes : — 

"My  lord, 

**  I  assure  you  your  letter  was  very  welcome  to  me,  being 
glad  to  find  you  are  still  heart  whole,  and  that  you  are 
in  better  health,  and  your  cough  is  gone :  as  to  your 
appetite,  I  confess  your  outlandish  messes  are  not  so  good 
as  beef  and  mutton;  I  pray  remember  how  ill  pickled 
herring  did  use  you  here,  and  brought  you  many  of  your 
hundred  and  fifty  fevers. 

"  As  for  the  countess,  I  can  tell  you  heavy  news  of  her, 
for  she  is  turned  quaker,  and  preaches  every  day  in  a  tub ; 
your  nephew,  George,  can  tell  you  of  her  quaking,  but  her 
tub  preaching  is  come  since  he  went,  I  believe;  I  believe 
at  last  she  will  grow  an  Adamite.  I  wish  your  nephews 
had  some  of  her  pippins  preserved  in  their  noses ;  it  would 
do  them  much  good."  ^  And  so  the  old  dame  rambles 
on  hilariously. 

Till  1660  the  monotony  of  EHzabeth's  Hfe  in  Holland 
was  greatly  relieved  by  the  society  of  the  Royalist  refugees 
Then  came  the  Restoration.  Elizabeth  had  the  pleasure 
of  escorting  her  nephew  on  board  the  "Royal  Charles" 
which  was  to  carry  him  back  to  England ;  and  she  looked 
confidently  forward  to  being  asked  immediately  to  share 
the  new  prosperity.  But  Charles  II.  had  many  claims, 
and  the  expected  invitation  did  not  arrive.  Neither  did 
Elizabeth  receive  the  .£20,000  which  was  voted  to  her  by 

^  Archseol.,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  225. 
"    Everett-Green,  vol.  vi.,  p.  51. 


158  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

the  Restoration  Parliament.  Lord  Craven  was  sent  over 
to  England  to  expedite  matters,  but  could  effect  nothing. 
It  was  no  wonder  then  that  when  Prince  Rupert,  just  a 
year  after  Charles  had  sailed  from  Holland,  was  passing 
through  the  Hague,  he  **  found  the  poore  woman  very- 
much  dejected  that  I  could  not  tell  her  the  time  she  might 
expect  to  be  sent  for."  ' 

Five  days  later  she  resolved  to  take  matters  into  her 
own  hands,  and  to  return  to  England,  though  uninvited. 
On  the  19th  May,  1661,  the  ex-Queen  of  Bohemia  said 
farewell  to  the  Hague  which  had  been  for  forty  years  the 
home  of  her  exile.  As  she  was  on  her  way  from  Delft 
to  Delfthaven,  a  letter  was  put  into  her  hands  from  the 
English  Chancellor,  Clarendon,  protesting  against  her  pro- 
posed journey,  on  the  grounds  that  it  was  not  desired  by 
the  king.  Here,  indeed,  was  a  cold  greeting  1  Yet  Elizabeth 
felt  that  she  could  not  return  again  to  the  Hague.  She 
explained  her  intentions  to  her  favourite  son : — '*  I  go  with 
a  resolution  to  suffer  all  things  constantly.  I  thank  God 
he  has  given  me  courage;  I  shall  not  do  as  poor  neece, 
but  will  resolve  upon  all  misfortunes.  I  love  you  ever, 
my  dear  Rupert."  - 

And  so  the  ex-Queen  of  Bohemia  stole  back  to  England 
with  a  train  of  but  twenty-six  attendants  in  three  vessels 
provided  by  the  Dutch.  After  touching  at  Gravesend,  she 
sailed  up  the  Thames,  and  entered  London  by  night,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  world  from  noticing  the  coldness  of 
her  reception. 

Truly  this  return  of  the  Lady  Elizabeth  to  England 
is  a  strange  contrast  to  her  triumphant  departure  half  a 
century  earlier.     Then  the  banks  of  the  Thames  had  been 

1  Hist.  MS.  Com.,  nth  Report.,  App.  5,  p.  4.  Rupert  to  Col.  Will.  Legge, 
April  24,  1 66 1. 
3  Bromley  Lettsrs,  p.  189. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  159 

lined  by  a  cheering  crowd.  Then,  together  with  hundreds 
of  nobles  and  attendants,  the  young  bride  and  bridegroom 
had  been  escorted  by  the  veteran  admiral  of  the  Armada 
in  an  English  fleet  decked  out  with  gaudy  silks  and  velvets. 
Then  there  had  been  mad  rivalry  between  Holland  and 
the  Rhenish  lands  in  their  preparations  to  honour  the 
only  daughter  of  King  James.  Then,  too,  all  had  been  high 
hope  for  the  newly  confirmed  alliance  which  was  to  make 
England  a  great  power  and  secure  the  predominance  of 
Protestantism  in  Europe. 

And  now,  Elizabeth  was  leaving  behind  her  on  the 
continent  little  else  than  debts  and  disasters.  The  Palati- 
nate shorn  of  its  provinces,  was  still  suffering  from  the 
ravages  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Bohemia  had  lost  its 
place  as  an  independent  nation  to  become  the  spoil  of 
a  foreign  aristocracy  and  the  Roman  priesthood.  And 
the  Dutch  who  had  provided  Elizabeth  with  a  refuge  and 
with  money,  were  in  consequence,  many  of  them,  on  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy.  It  had  been  with  reason  that  the 
Queen  had  once  observed  "I  see  it  is  not  good  to  be  my 
friend." 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  her  adversities  and  in  spite  of  her 
wrinkles,  it  is  not  possible  to  mistake  in  this  cheery  undaunted 
old  lady  the  Elizabeth  of  earlier  days,  the  Queen  who 
had  won  all  hearts.  The  French  ambassador  who  drove 
her  from  the  Hague  in  his  coach,  thus  described  her  to 
his  master : — *'  Assuredly  she  cannot  but  be  very  useful  to  him 
(Charles  II.),  being  a  good  creature,  of  a  temper  very  civil 
and  always  equal,  one  who  has  never  disobliged  anybody, 
and  who  is  thus  capable  in  her  own  person,  of  securing 
affection  for  the  whole  royal  family,  and  one  who,  although 
a  sexagenarian  in  age,  preserves  full  vigour  of  body  and 
mind.  Although  here  she  is  in  debt  more  than  200,000 
crowns,    to   a  number   of  poor  creditors  and  tradespeople, 


i6o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

nevertheless,  from  the  friendship  they  have  for  her  person, 
they  let  her  go  without  a  murmur,  and  without  any  assurance 
of  their  payment  than  the  high  opinion  they  have  of  her 
goodness  and  generosity."  ^ 

Neither  had  Elizabeth  lost  in  her  forty-eight  years'  resi- 
dence abroad  the  peculiarly  English  characteristics  of  her 
personality.  Throughout  her  life  she  had  looked  at  foreign 
politics  through  English  glasses.  Few  except  her  fellow- 
countrymen  had  been  included  within  the  inner  circle  of 
her  friendship.  The  English  gentry  on  their  part  were 
devoted  to  Ehzabeth  because  her  education  at  Combe 
Abbey  had  made  her  one  of  themselves.  They,  at  any 
rate,  could  appreciate  her  country  love  of  fresh  air,  of  sport 
and  of  animals,  saved  as  it  was  from  mere  rusticity  by 
her  practical  grasp  of  the  political  and  social  affairs  of  life, 
and  by  her  natural  enjoyment  of  art  and  literature  in  their 
lighter  aspects.  Her  countrymen  could  appreciate,  too,  the 
frankness  of  her  character,  her  combination  of  a  somewhat 
rude  frivolity  with  the  severer  virtues  of  the  British  matron. 
Thoroughly  English,  moreover,  was  Elizabeth's  Protestantism. 
It  could  not  be  classified  under  any  sub-heading.  Her 
one  great  principle  was  an  abhorrence  of  Romanism;  and 
when  two  of  her  children  became  Papists,  shQ  could  only 
wish  that  either  she  or  they  were  dead.  In  fact  Elizabeth 
was  wholly  English  in  a  sense  that  had  become  rare  at 
the  time  of  the  Restoration.  She  really  belonged  to  an 
England  in  which  neither  Cavaliers  nor  Roundheads  had  a 
place.  It  had  been  right  that  during  the  early  years  of 
the  German  War,  the  whole  nation,  irrespective  of  party, 
had  been  wild  with  enthusiasm  for  the  pupil  of  Lord 
Harington.  If  Elizabeth  had  come  to  the  Enghsh  throne 
(and    for    some    years    this    had    seemed    a    likely    event), 

1  De  Thou  to  Louis  XIV.,  May  19,  1661,  quoted  in  Everett-Green,  vol.  vi., 
P-  73- 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  i6i 

England  might  well  have  seen  another  Elizabethan  reign  as 
prosperous  as  that  which  had  gone  before.  If  the  daughter 
of  James  I.  was  inferior  to  the  daughter  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  of  Anne  Boleyn  in  caution  and  in  a  regard  for  eco- 
nomy, she  surpassed  her  in  straightforwardness  and  in 
devotion  to  the  Protestant  cause,  she  rivalled  her  in  the 
capacity  to  arouse  admiration  and  enthusiasm.  Although 
she  would  not  have  been  able  to  resist  the  rising  spirit 
of  religious  and  constitutional  freedom,  yet  she  would  almost 
certainly  have  prevented  the  movement  from  becoming 
revolutionary.  She,  at  any  rate,  had  been  able  to  learn 
from  experience  that  which  her  brother  never  mastered, 
the  essential  art  of  yielding.  She  had  succeeded  in  preserv- 
ing her  good  relations  with  the  Parliament  until  it  executed 
Charles  I. ;  and  at  one  time  she  had  even  submitted  to 
receive  from  the  Puritans  a  chaplain  who  should  con- 
duct her  services  without  the  help  of  the  book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer. 

To  the  English  people  of  the  Restoration,  however,  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia  was  a  stranger  and  an  alien.  Like  a 
ghost  from  another  world  she  moved  about  for  nine  months 
amongst  the  busy  Londoners  and  the  merry-making  cour- 
tiers. Men  used  to  see  her  at  the  theatre  or  the  Opera 
attended  by  Lord  Craven  or  by  the  King.  Charles,  when 
his  aunt's  return  had  become  an  accomplished  fact,  readily 
treated  her  with  a  dutiful  regard ;  and  ample  supplies  were 
promised  for  her  present  needs  and  her  past  debts. 

For  a  time  Elizabeth  was  entertained  by  the  ever-faithful 
Craven  at  his  home  in  the  Drury  Lane.  Then  in  January, 
1662,  she  rented  a  house  of  her  own  in  Leicester  Fields. 
But  no  sooner  had  the  move  been  accomplished,  than 
she  was  seized  with  a  cold.  Further  complications  set  in; 
and  on  February  13th  the  life  whose  first  appearance  had 
been  but  scantily  noticed  amid  the  turmoil  raised  by  Mel- 


i62  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

ville  and  his  fellows  of  the  Scottish  Kirk,  ebbed  away  in 
equal  oblivion  amid  the  wild  dissipation  of  the  restored 
Royalists. 

On  the  night  of  the  i6th,  Elizabeth,  the  Winter  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  was  buried.  The  body  attended  by  Prince 
Rupert,  Lord  Craven  and  a  train  of  nobles  was  borne  in 
torchlight  state  up  the  Thames  to  Westminster.  While  the 
burial  service  was  being  said  in  the  dim  Abbey,  there  raged 
outside  a  storm  of  wind  and  hail,  of  thunder  and  lightning, 
''such  as  never  was  seene  the  like  in  any  man's  memorie."^ 
Then  this  Stuart  Princess  who  had  suffered  so  long  and 
so  bravely,  was  laid  by  the  side  of  three  other  members 
of  her  ill-fortuned  family — her  grandmother,  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots ;  her  cousin,  the  Lady  Arabella,  who  had  died  broken- 
hearted in  the  Tower;  and  her  brother  Henry,  the  com- 
panion of  her  childhood. 


Note  on  the  authorship  of  the  "  Memoirs  Relating  to  the 
Queen  of  Bohemia.     By  One  of  her  Ladies." 

The  "Memoirs"  form  a  small  duodecimo  volume  of  162 
pages.  They  were  privately  printed.  The  story  breaks  off 
abruptly  in  the  middle  of  an  account  of  the  Gunpowder 
Plot.  On  a  fly-leaf  of  the  copy  in  the  Bodleian  Library, 
someone  (presumably  a  member  of  the  Erskine  family)  has 
written  a  long  note  which  begins  as  follows : — *'  This  Frag- 
ment of  Memoirs,  relating  to  the  Queen  of  Bohemia,  was 
written  by  the  Lady  Frances  Erskine,  who  commenced  it 
about  1753  when  she  lived  at  Houghton  Park  in  Bedford- 
shire. This  Fragment  was  all  that  was  ever  printed  of  it. 
The  continuation  of  it,  in  manuscript,  was  lost  in  the  fire 
of  Alloa,  the  family  seat,  28th  August,   1800."     The  note 

1  Evelyn,  vol.  ii.,  p.  143. 


ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  163 

goes  on  to  explain  that  the  Lady  Frances  Erskine  was 
the  only  daughter  of  John,  nth  Earl  of  Mar,  that  she  was 
born  in   171 5,  and  died  in  1776. 

It  is  probably  on  the  strength  of  this  note  that  the 
authorship  of  the  Memoirs  is  commonly  attributed  to  Lady 
Frances  Erskine.  This,  however,  leads  to  a  misapprehension. 
The  Lady  Frances  Erskine  who  devoted  herself  to  the 
Memoirs  in  1753  was  the  editor  and  not  the  author.  There 
may  be  some  doubt  as  to  how  far  her  work  of  editing 
was  carried.  She  is  certainly  responsible  for  the  notes 
where  she  compares  the  statements  of  ''the  Author"  with 
those  of  other  writers  in  the  17th  century.  Possibly  she 
may  have  also  to  some  extent  manipulated  the  text  and 
style.  But  there  can  be  httle  doubt  that  the  Memoirs  are 
substantially  that  which  they  profess  to  be,  the  remem- 
brances of  one  of  Elizabeth's  ladies. 

The  name  of  this  lady  I  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to 
discover.  It  may  be  presumed  that  she  was  a  member  of 
the  Erskine  family  to  which  King  James  repeatedly  shewed 
his  favour.  This  supposition  receives  support  from  the  full 
account  that  is  given  (Memoirs,  p.  40)  of  the  quarrel  between 
Queen  Anne  of  Denmark  and  John  Erskine,  second  or 
seventh  Earl  of  Mar.  The  author  gives  a  few  autobiograph- 
ical touches  in  the  Memoirs.  For  instance,  she  writes  (p.  42), 
"As  the  Princess  had  always  honoured  me  with  a  greater 
familiarity  and  friendship  than  any  of  the  other  children 
who  had  been  admitted  to  play  with  her,  the  Queen  allow- 
ed her  to  take  me  to  England  with  her;  and  as  I  loved 
her  better  than  I  did  anybody,  I  obeyed  with  cheerful  read- 
iness, and  never  left  my  dear  Mistress  after  that." 

It  is  clear  that  since  the  author  was  about  the  same  age 
as  Elizabeth,  and  since  the  Memoirs  are  addressed  to  the 
author's  grand-daughter,  they  must  have  been  written  long 
after  the  events  which  they  describe.     A  few  of  the  details 


i64  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

are  slightly  inaccurate;  thus,  Elizabeth  is  said  (p.  42)  to  have 
"set  out  with  the  Queen"  from  Edinburgh,  whereas  in  real- 
ity (as  Calderwood's  "  History  of  the  Kirk,"  p.  474,  points 
out)  the  Princess  was  delayed  by  sickness,  and  did  not 
leave  till  two  days  after  the  Queen.  So,  too,  the  Memoirs 
confuse  Catesby  with  Digby.  But  on  the  whole  the  author- 
ess appears  to  have  enjoyed  a  memory  that  was  both 
vivid  and  accurate.  The  picture  of  the  young  Princess  is 
perhaps  somewhat  idealized,  and  the  writer  evidently  intend- 
ed the  Memoirs  to  afford  moral  and  historical  instruction 
to  "the  Grand-daughter";  but  if  we  may  judge  of  the 
ability  of  the  authoress  from  the  clever  characters  which 
she  draws  of  James  and  his  wife,  we  may  be  sure  that  the 
portraits  that  we  find  in  these  pages  of  Elizabeth  and  of 
Harington,  are  as  excellent  as  they  are  detailed. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE 


DAUGHTER  OF  CHARLES  I. 


MARY     OF     ORANGK. 


To  face  p.  167. 


Ill 

MARY  OF  ORANGE,  DAUGHTER  OF  CHARLES  I. 

In  one  of  his  Short  Studies,  Froude  has  urged  an  eloquent 
plea  for  the  use  of  history  as  a  means  of  acquiring  a 
juster  and  more  sympathetic  conception  of  humanity.  By 
digging  in  the  past  we  accustom  ourselves  to  take  a  more 
tolerant  view  of  the  present.  We  need  not  go,  perhaps, 
outside  the  range  of  our  personal  experience  to  make 
ourselves  familiar  with  "  the  crimes,  follies,  and  misfortunes 
of  mankind,"  but  we  are  bound  to  do  so  if  we  wish  to 
see  them  in  proper  focus.  Only  when  we  pass  judgment 
on  our  predecessors  do  we  escape  from  the  prejudices  that 
colour  our  opinions  of  our  contemporaries — though  even 
then  perhaps  not  wholly.  The  crimes  that  we  read  of  still 
excite  our  disgust,  but  the  criminals  our  pity ;  we  hate  the 
heresy,  but  come  near  to  loving  the  heretics.  So,  too,  with 
the  brighter  characters  in  the  perennial  drama.  We  grant 
their  virtues  unstinted  admiration,  but  we  steady  our  verdicts 
by  a  recollection  of  their  shortcomings ;  we  glory  in  their 
achievements,   but   no   idealism   blinds  us  to  their  failures. 

Whatever  may  be  said  against  this  humanizing  aspect  of 
history,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  value  as  an  encour- 
agement to  read.  The  rise  and  fall  of  institutions,  the  birth 
and  nurture  of  movements,  their  causes  and  effects — these 
things  may  represent  the  true  functions  of  research;  but 
for  the   most   part   we  lack  the  breadth  of  mind  and  con- 


i68  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

centration  of  effort  to  fit  us  for  grappling  with  a  task  that 
paralyses  if  it  does  not  stimulate,  that  kills  if  it  does  not 
cure.  Hence  it  is  that  the  world  still  prefers  to  extract 
the  history  of  a  period  from  the  history  of  its  great  men. 
We  like  better  to  read  where  the  predilections  of  the  writer 
are  no  sooner  seen  than  corrected,  than  to  be  shown  under- 
currents of  thought  and  feeling,  whose  existence  we  had 
never  suspected  and  which  our  ignorance  renders  us  impotent 
to  criticise. 

But,  whilst  this  fashion  of  grouping  history  round  indivi- 
duals has  produced  countless  lives  of  kings  and  ambassadors, 
politicians  and  judges,  soldiers  and  ecclesiastics,  it  has  led 
to  an  undue  neglect  of  the  feebler  sex.  After  the  Elizabeths 
and  Isabellas  have  been  stolen  to  swell  the  ranks  of  states- 
men, the  remaining  queens  and  princesses  are  left  to 
perish  in  the  cold ;  no  one,  for  example,  thinks  of  writing 
a  life  of  Henrietta  Maria  in  relation  to  the  politics  of  her 
time.  The  works  of  Miss  Strickland  and  Mrs.  Everett- 
Green  have,  it  is  true,  collected  most  of  what  there  is  to 
be  said  about  the  wives  and  daughters  of  our  sovereigns, 
but  this  very  completeness  has  obscured  their  portraits. 
We  read  the  "  Lives  of  the  Queens  and  Princesses  of  Eng- 
land," not  to  estimate  their  political  influences,  but  to  enjoy 
their  quaint  manners  and  customs,  their  odd  sayings,  their 
unsuitable  marriages,  in  short  the  gossip  of  their  courts; 
and  we  suppose  that  we  have  fairly  gauged  their  place  in 
history  when  we  have  really  confined  them  within  the  four 
walls  of  their  palaces. 

At  the  end  of  the  Communication  Gallery  at  Hampton 
court,  hangs  the  portrait  of  a  lady  richly  dressed  in  white 
satin  covered  by  a  red-feathered  mantle,  and  wearing  on 
her  head  a  kind  of  turban  also  of  white  and  adorned  with 
red  feathers.  The  face  is  more  striking  than  beautiful. 
Deep    brown    eyes  surmounted    by   thick   eyebrows  of  the 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  169 

same  colour  and  a  high  forehead,  when  set  off  by  the 
bright  colour  of  the  cheeks,  produce  an  effect  that  goes  far 
to  explain  the  high  reputation  for  beauty  that  the  possessor 
enjoyed,  if  we  recollect  that  she  was  a  royal  princess.  For 
the  lower  part  of  the  face  is  not  so  pleasing.  The 
nose,  as  is  not  perhaps  surprising  in  a  Stuart,  is  too  long ; 
the  lips  are  thick;  the  chin  recedes.  In  spite  of  the  air 
of  hauteur,  the  features  give  the  impression  of  weakness, 
almost  of  petulance.  For  the  rest,  the  neck  is  long,  the 
shoulders  sloping,  and  the  hands  graceful,  with  long  tapering 
fingers.  The  picture  is  labelled  "Portrait  of  a  Lady  Un- 
known "  ;  but  it  has  now  been  identified  as  "  The  Princess  of 
Orange  in  a  feathered  mantle,  half-length,  by  Hanneman," 
in  James  II.'s  catalogue.  ^ 

Mary  of  Orange  was  born  on  Nov.  4th,  163 1,  at  St.  James' 
Palace,  the  eldest  daughter  and  second  child  of  King 
Charles  I.  and  his  Queen,  Henrietta  Maria.  She  was  a 
sickly  infant  and  narrowly  escaped  death  a  few  weeks  after 
her  birth.  Her  early  childhood  was  passed  in  London, 
under  the  care  of  Lady  Roxburgh  and  Mrs.  Bennett,  re- 
spectively her  governess  and  her  nurse.  In  1636  she  was 
moved  to  Hampton  Court,  where  she  spent  the  greater 
part  of  her  time  till  1639,  when,  in  company  with  her  mother 
and  brothers  and  sisters,  she  took  refuge  in  Whitehall 
from  the  violence  of  the  London  mob.  In  the  following 
year  she  acted  as  godmother  to  Prince  Henry.  But  there 
is  little  to  record  of  her  childhood.  The  times  were  troublous 
and  men  had  other  things  to  think  of  than  the  doings  of 
the  little  princess. 

For  those  were  days  in  which  Strafford  and  Laud  built 
up  their  great  system  of  "Thorough"  in  Church  and  State. 

*  Law's  Hampton  Court  Guide  for  1900,  p.  123.  There  are  also  portraits 
of  Mary  of  Orange  at  Windsor  and  in  prirate  collections  (see  the  article  in 
the  Diet,  of  Nat.  Biog.). 


lyo  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Into  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  the  constitutional  dispute  we 
have  no  occasion  to  enter  here,  but  the  increasing  unpopu- 
larity of  the  king,  to  which  it  led,  was  destined  to  have 
a  very  powerful  influence  on  the  prospects  of  his  eldest 
daughter.  In  1637,  when  Queen  Marie  de  Medicis  visited 
England,  bringing  with  her  a  proposal  that  Mary's  younger 
sister  Elizabeth  should  be  betrothed  to  Prince  William  of 
Orange,  the  possibilities  of  an  absolutist  Government  must 
have  appeared  considerable.  Laud  was,  it  is  true,  already 
engaged  in  his  disastrous  enterprise  of  introducing  the 
Anglican  ceremonial  into  Scotland,  whilst  Strafford's  admi- 
nistration of  Ireland  was  far  advanced;  but  it  had  not  yet 
become  evident  that  the  respective  Calvinism  and  Cathol- 
icism of  the  lesser  kingdoms  were  to  find  a  battle-ground 
in  the  greater.  ^  And  so  we  are  scarcely  surprised  to  find 
King  Charles  receiving  the  Queen  Dowager's  overtures 
with  something  very  like  contempt. '  It  probably  seemed 
to  him  almost  an  insult  to  suppose  that  the  son  of  a 
Dutch  stadtholder  and  grandson  of  Louise  de  Coligny  was  a 
fitting  match  for  the  descendant  of  the  Stuarts  and  grand- 
daughter of  King  Henry  IV.  of  France.  But  by  1640 
political  developments  had  driven  the  king  to  a  very  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  The  great  system  had  been  tried  and 
found  wanting.  Strafford  had  been  impeached  and  sent  to 
the  Tower;  and  his  downfall  had  foreshadowed,  if  it  had 
not  involved,  that  of  Laud.  On  the  continent  the  anti- 
dynastic  policy  of  Richelieu  deprived  the  king  of  any  hope 
of  succour  from  the  quarter  whence  he  had  most  right 
to  expect  it ;  whilst,  so  long  as  the  Scots  remained  invinci- 
ble and  hostile,  the  rebel  Parliament  could  never  be 
crushed.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Dutch  marriage, 
hateful    as    it    was    to    the    Queen,   became    a    lamentable 

*   Seeley,  "Growth  of  British  Policy,"  vol.  i.,  p.  351. 

'  Everett-Green,  "  Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  England  ":  Mary  of  Orange,  p.  106. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  171 

necessity.  In  December  Charles  informed  the  Privy  Council 
that  he  was  prepared  to  give  his  second  daughter,  or  even 
his  eldest,  in  betrothal  to  Prince  William.  He  did  not  add, 
as  he  might  have  done,  that  he  hoped  by  this  method  to 
gain  at  all  events  a  powerful  mediator  between  himself 
and  his  subjects  in  the  person  of  Prince  Frederic  Henry, 
the  father  of  the  bridegroom.  ^  Whether  he  expected  further 
the  assistance  of  a  Dutch  army  in  England  it  is  impossible 
to  say,  but  by  Jan.  6th,  1641, — the  date  of  the  first  audience 
of  the  Dutch  ambassadors — he  seems  to  have  made  up  his 
mind  that,  in  case  of  necessity,  he  might  rely  on  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  ^  A  fortnight  later  he  gave  another 
audience  to  the  emissaries,  and  h«  stated  that  he  was 
content  that  Princess  Mary  should  be  the  bride  and  that 
he  looked  to  the  marriage  for  the  basis  of  a  political 
alliance  against  Spain.  The  envoys  expressed  a  similar 
hope,  but  qualified  it  by  saying  that  such  a  treaty  could 
be  of  little  avail  unless  the  king  could  come  to  an  amica- 
ble agreement  with  his  Parliament.  It  may  perhaps  be 
inferred  from  this  that  the  Dutchmen  had  divined  Charles's 
idea  of  reducing  his  own  subjects  to  obedience  with  the 
aid  of  an  army  from  Holland;  and,  if  this  theory  be  cor- 
rect, we  must  regard  the  introduction  of  Spain  into  the 
matter  as  a  mere  blind  to  cloak  the  king's  real  design.  ^ 
** Charles's  habit,"  remarks  Prof.  Gardiner,  "of  regarding 
his  own  authority  as  something  distinct  from  the  nation, 
prevented  him  from  feeling,  as  Elizabeth  would  have  felt, 
that  there  was  anything  disgraceful  in  appealing  to  foreign- 
ers for  assistance  against  his  own  subjects."  Anyhow, 
three  weeks  later,  during  the  debates  on  Episcopacy,  Queen 
Henrietta    confidently    informed    Rossetti    that    the   young 

1  Gardiner,  "Hist,  of  Engl."  vol.  x.,  p.  32. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  47  and  note  on  p.  48. 

3  Ibid.,  pp.  52,  53. 


172  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Prince  of  Orange  was  to  come  to  the  succour  of  his  future 
father-in-law  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men.  *  Probably 
the  Queen's  wish  fathered  her  thought,  but  at  the  same 
time  it  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose  that  she  had  some 
sort  of  foundation  for  her  statement. 

The  second  of  May,  1641,  saw  the  betrothal  of  the 
young  pair  (the  marriage  was  not  completed  until  Nov. 
1643).  The  ceremony  was  very  quiet,  as  was  natural  in 
the  existing  state  of  the  king's  fortunes  and  in  view  of 
the  popular  agitation  against  Strafford,  at  whose  trial 
Princess  Mary  had  been  present  in  company  with  her 
parents  a  short  time  before.  ^  The  service  was  performed 
at  the  Chapel  Royal  by  Bishop  Wren  of  Ely.  Not  long 
afterwards  the  Prince  left  England  to  rejoin  his  father. 

As  may  well  be  supposed,  the  union  gave  rise  to  a  good 
deal  of  comment.  The  court  was  determined  to  believe 
that  the  king  had  made  immediate  pecuniary  assistance 
the  price  of  the  marriage  ;  a  view  which  is  borne  out  to 
some  extent  by  the  fact  that  Charles  was  at  this  time 
transmitting  money  to  York. '  Abroad,  much  surprise  was 
expressed  that  the  head  of  the  House  of  Stuart  should 
have  allowed  his  daughter  to  wed  into  a  family  that 
lacked  royal  blood.  In  France,  surprise  gave  place  to  in- 
dignation ;  it  was  disgraceful,  men  said,  that  the  grand- 
daughter of  King  Henry  should  have  to  be  content  with 
so  poor  a  match.  It  was  regarded,  too,  as  very  significant 
that  the  young  bridegroom  had  been  appointed  head  of 
the  Dutch  embassy  in  order  thereby  to  raise  his  status 
at  the  English  court. "  In  our  own  days,  however,  Mary 
would    probably    have    been    considered    a    very  fortunate 


1  Gardiner,  vol.  x.,  p.  84. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  no,  III. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  147. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  113. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  173 

princess,  for  William  from  the  first  seems  to  have  had  an 
almost  passionate  admiration  for  his  fiancee.  If  he  was 
not  strictly  handsome,  he  was  at  any  rate  energetic,  cour- 
ageous, well-bred,  and  well-educated.  He  could  speak, 
we  are  told,  five  languages — Dutch,  English,  French,  Ita- 
lian, and  Spanish; — no  small  accomplishment  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Anyhow,  so  far  as  domestic  happiness 
could  make  it  so,  the  match  proved  eminently  successful. 
There  is  no  record  of  any  disagreement  or  misunderstand- 
ing between  the  Prince  and  his  wife,  whilst  each  gave 
conspicuous  proof  of  devotion  to  the  other.  When  they 
were  separated,  he  wrote  to  her  frequently  and  with  un- 
remitting expressions  of  anxiety  as  to  her  welfare.  For  a 
measure  of  her  affection  we  have  only  to  recall  the  scene 
at  his  death-bed,  when  Mary,  from  whom  the  truth  had 
been  withheld  till  the  last,  threw  herself  upon  the  corpse 
in  a  fit  of  frantic  and  uncontrollable  despair ;  an  incident 
that  found  an  almost  exact  parallel  in  the  behaviour  of 
her  son  on  the  death  of  his  wife.  In  fact,  when  we  re- 
member that  William  and  Mary  had  never  seen  each  other 
before  their  engagement  and  that  they  were  betrothed  off- 
hand at  the  respective  ages  of  fifteen  and  ten,  we  cannot 
but  feel  that  on  this  occasion  the  Fates  were  singularly 
kind. 

On  William's  return  to  Holland,  Mary  was  left  behind  in 
England,  for,  by  the  provisions  of  the  marriage  treaty,  she 
was  not  to  be  taken  from  her  father's  charge  until  she 
reached  the  age  of  twelve.  These  provisions  included,  fur- 
ther, the  promise  of  a  marriage  portion  of  =£^40,000,  payable 
in  sums  of  <£io,ocx)  every  half-year  until  completed,  and 
guarantees  from  the  Prince  of  Orange  that  the  young 
princess  should  have  the  free  use  of  her  religion,  the  ser- 
vants her  father  should  choose  for  her,  so  long  as  they 
did    not    exceed  forty  in  all  (twenty-six  men  and  fourteen 


174  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

women),  and  her  household  expenses  paid,  with  =£^1,500  a 
year  pocket-money.  In  the  event  of  her  husband's  death 
she  was  to  have  c£^  10,000  a  year  for  her  dower  and  two 
palaces  at  the  Hague  and  Breda,  which  were  to  be  entrusted 
to  English  commissioners  for  security  of  payment.  Under 
these  arrangements  Mary  should,  as  has  been  shown,  have 
remained  in  England  till  1643,  but  the  serious  condition  of 
the  King's  affairs  and  especially  his  want  of  money  obliged  a 
change  of  plans.  On  Feb.  4th,  1642,  Charles  learnt  that  the 
Prince  of  Orange  declined  to  mediate  between  him  and  the 
Parliament ;  ^  and  this  determined  the  queen  to  go  in  person 
to  Holland  and  solicit  arms,  men  and  money  from  that  country 
and  from  France.  Some  plausible  excuse  for  this  step  was 
needed  and  no  better  suggested  itself  than  the  delivery  of 
Mary  to  her  prospective  husband.  So  on  Feb.  23rd  Hen- 
rietta and  her  daughter  set  sail  from  Dover,  whilst  the  king, 
overcome  with  melancholy,  rode  along  the  coast  so  as  to 
keep  the  departing  ship  in  sight  as  long  as  possible.  After 
a  bad  passage,  the  voyagers  reached  Hounslerdike  on  the 
first  of  March.  The  general  condition  and  especially  the 
politics  of  the  country,  in  which  Mary  had  now  become 
the  first  lady,  compel  us  to  make  a  brief  digression. 

When  Louis  XVI.  received  the  news  of  the  capture  of 
the  Bastille  he  remarked  that  it  was  a  revolt.  "No,  Sire," 
was  Liancourt's  famous  reply,  "it  is  a  revolution."  An 
equally  candid  and  far-seeing  courtier  might  have  employed 
the  same  words  to  King  Philip  II.  of  Spain  with  no  less 
truth,  when  in  1572  the  town  of  Brill  was  captured  by  a 
few  Dutch  sailors.  It  seemed  a  small  flame,  but  it  was 
destined  to  raise  a  mighty  fire.  The  smouldering  opposition 
of  the  Netherlands  to  the  civil  and  religious  tyranny  of  the 
Spaniards   blazed   up   at   once   into   armed   resistance,  and 

1  Gardiner,  p.  422. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  175 

from  that  time  the  little  low-lying  state  asserted  with  an 
unflinching  determination  the  new  doctrine  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  kings,  that  was  to  revolutionise  the  world.  The 
long  and  heroic  struggle  is  familiar  in  some  degree  to 
everyone,  for  it  had  widespread  European  effects.  It  esta- 
blished Protestantism  on  a  secure  basis,  it  put  an  end  to 
the  dreams  of  universal  empire  that  were  at  that  time  enter- 
tained by  the  Hapsburgs,  and  it  gave  a  coup  de  grace  to 
the  famous  bull  of  Alexander  the  Sixth.  But  its  internal 
results  were  not  less  remarkable,  for  it  exerted  an  immense 
influence  over  the  characters  of  the  Dutch  themselves.  As 
Mr.  Wakeman  has  admirably  put  it,  "Slowness  and  ob- 
stinacy became  refined  into  patience  and  endurance,  dulness 
into  obedience,  sloth  into  fidelity."  ^  But  amongst  the 
gallery  of  heroes,  that  were  the  offspring  of  the  rebellion, 
one  figure  will  always  stand  out  pre-eminent.  William  the 
Silent  was  the  mainspring  and  mainstay  of  the  revolt — its 
statesman  in  the  council,  its  general  on  the  battle-field — 
and  his  fortitude  and  courage  have  won  for  him  an  undying 
fame  that  will  ever  be  the  true  measure  of  his  services. 
For  those  services  were  not  repaid  in  any  material  shape. 
He  chose  to  die  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  offer  of  the 
crown  was  not  renewed  to  his  descendants.  It  required 
in  those  days  some  great  peril  or  distress  to  provoke  the 
Dutch  to  desire  a  king.  Unlike  the  Israelites,  the  posses- 
sion of  a  national  dignitary  exercised  no  fascination  over 
their  minds.  And  so,  whilst  the  crisis  of  their  struggle  for 
independence  saw  them  eagerly  seeking  a  ruler  and  pressing 
the  sovereignty  of  their  country  now  upon  William,  now 
upon  Elizabeth  of  England,  now  upon  the  Due  d'Anjou,  in 
1650  Princess  Mary  and  her  husband  found  them  setting 
their  faces  the  other  way  with  provoking  obstinacy.     If  the 

1  Wakeman,  "Ascendency  of  France." 


176  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

truth  be  told  they  regarded  a  monarch  more  or  less  in  the 
light  of  a  commercial  speculation.  If  he  served  to  bring 
them  a  valuable  political  alliance  or  to  consolidate  their 
strength  by  enlarging  their  boundaries,  ^  he  was  worth 
having;  if  he  did  not,  the  sooner  he  was  put  out  of  the 
running  the  better.  The  principle  savours  a  little  too  much 
of  the  huckster  for  our  taste,  but  the  Dutch  were  essentially 
merchants. 

As  a  result  of  these  heterodox  opinions,  the  United 
Provinces  possessed  an  unique  constitution.  Each  of  the 
seven  confederates  was  entitled  to  send  as  many  deputies 
as  it  pleased  to  the  assembly  of  the  States-General,  but  for 
voting  purposes  it  only  possessed  one  voice.  Although  in 
theory  the  functions  of  sovereignty  rested  with  this  body,  in 
practice  the  constituencies  exercised  so  close  a  supervision 
over  their  representatives  that  on  all  important  matters 
there  was  a  referendum  to  the  provincial  assembhes.  But 
these  local  parliaments,  whose  members  were  appointed  by 
the  municipal  councils,  were  in  their  turn  dependent  on 
the  small  burgher  aristocracies  of  the  towns.  As  may  well 
be  supposed,  such  a  system  of  Government,  qualified  by 
the  proverbial  characteristic  of  the  Dutchman,  seemed  to 
the  outsider  to  be  nothing  less  than  an  organised  delay. 
The  States-General  did  not,  probably  could  not,  make  an 
effective  point  of  union  for  the  provinces;  and  the  want 
was  supplied  in  times  of  danger  by  the  House  of  Nassau. 
Each  province  was  empowered  to  appoint  a  stadtholder  or 
chief  magistrate,  and  by  degrees  five  or  six  out  of  seven 
of  these  offices  were  entrusted  to  the  Princes  of  Orange: 
the  central  Government  was  accustomed  at  the  same  time 
to  appoint   them   Captain  and  Admiral-General  of  the  na- 

*  If  William  the  Silent  had  accepted  the  sovereignty  he  would  probably 
have  ruled  the  whole  of  the  Netherlands,  except  the  Walloon  Provinces.  See 
Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland,"  p.  109. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  177 

tional  forces.  Invested  with  these  dignities,  they  became 
the  first  subjects  of  the  Republic  and  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  of  State.  This  Council,  which  voted 
by  heads,  contained  twelve  deputies;  two  each  from  Guel- 
derland,  Zealand,  and  Friesland,  one  from  Utrecht,  Over- 
yssel  and  Groningen,  and  three  from  Holland.  As  may  be 
inferred  from  this  uneven  representation,  the  seven  pro- 
vinces were  of  very  different  importance.  Guelders  was 
dominated  by  a  nobility  of  small  means;  Friesland  sup- 
ported a  maritime  population  of  democratic  sympathies; 
Utrecht,  once  part  of  an  episcopal  principality,  retained  the 
ecclesiastical  interests  that  under  a  new  form  were  to  make 
it  famous  in  the  coming  century.  Groningen  and  Overyssel  on 
the  West  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  Holland  and  Zealand 
on  the  East.  Whilst  the  former  were  badly  situated  for  naval 
enterprise,  the  latter  possessed  magnificent  seaboards  and  a 
perhaps  unparalleled  inland  water-way.  Indeed  the  weight 
of  Holland  amongst  the  provinces  cannot  well  be  exag- 
gerated. Amsterdam  is  still  known  by  its  title  of  the  Venice 
of  the  North,  and  was  at  that  time  the  object  of  a  furious 
jealousy  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Whitelocke  records 
how  "the  rest  (of  the  provinces)  are  jealous  of  Amsterdam 
as  if  they  (that  is,  the  burghers)  designed ...  to  domineer 
over  all  other  towns."  ^  The  famous  bank  of  the  city  had 
replaced  those  of  Venice  and  Genoa  and  was  credited 
with  metallic  deposits  to  the  amount  of  $  1 80,000,000,  -  a 
sum  which  in  those  days  was  considered  vast.  From  Am- 
sterdam, too,  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  had  obtained 
one-half  of  its  capital. '  Of  the  other  towns  of  Holland, 
Rotterdam  and  Delft  were  of  course  great  commercial 
centres,   Leyden   was   the   home  of  an  university  which  in 

1   Whitelocke's  Memorials,  June  1651. 
'   Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland,"  p.  222. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  200. 


178  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

its  best  days  was  preferred  to  the  older  foundations  at 
Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Paris ;  ^  and  the  Hague,  in  virtue 
of  being  the  seat  of  Government,  was  regarded  as  the  capital 
of  the  United  Provinces.  In  Holland,  moreover,  the  great 
agricultural  industries  of  the  country — cattle-farming  and 
market-gardening — were  developed  to  their  fullest  extent.  A 
province  which  towered  so  easily  above  its  fellows  in  im- 
portance was  bound  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  politics 
of  the  confederation.  Possibly  a  natural  rivalry  with  Zea- 
land, where  lay  for  the  most  part  the  private  territories 
of  the  House  of  Orange,  more  certainly  the  purely  com- 
mercial interests  of  the  burgher  merchants,  made  its  chief 
official  the  head  of  the  opposition.  Whilst  the  stadtholders 
instinctively  preferred  a  state  of  war  with  its  opportunities 
of  military  distinction  and  personal  aggrandisement,  the 
Grand  Pensionary  of  Holland  represented  the  pacific  am- 
bitions of  the  trading  class.  Religious  differences,  moreover, 
had  tended  to  divide  the  nation  into  two  parties.  That  of 
the  Princes  of  Orange  included,  besides  the  soldiery  and 
the  depressed  populace  of  town  and  country,  the  Calvinist 
ministers;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  municipal  aristo- 
cracies, asserting  their  superior  enlightenment,  favoured  the 
doctrines  of  Arminius. 

There  is  a  certain  danger  that  the  stakes  for  which  the 
Court  party  (for  so  it  is  convenient  to  call  the  adherents  of 
the  stadtholders)  were  playing,  may  be  under-estimated; 
Holland  in  our  own  days  occupies  such  a  very  different 
position  in  the  European  system  from  that  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces in  the  seventeenth  century.  For  at  that  time  the 
Dutch  were  justly  entitled  to  be  called  the  pioneers  of 
Europe.  Their  wealth  was  prodigious,  their  colonial  enter- 
prise  unsurpassed,  their  military  organisation  so  good  that 

1  Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland,"  p.  220. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  179 

their  army  was  regarded  as  an  excellent  training-ground 
for  young  officers  from  other  countries,  ^  their  navy  so 
well-equipped  as  to  be  a  match  for  our  own,  and  their 
merchant-vessels  so  numerous  that  they  came  near  to 
monopolising  the  carrying-trade  of  the  world. '  The  names 
of  Paul  Potter,  Ruysdael,  Cuyp  and  Rembrandt  in  art,  of 
Vondel  in  poetry,  of  Grotius  in  diplomatic  theory,  of 
Spinoza  and  Descartes  in  philosophy,  are  sufficient  to  recall 
their  amazing  intellectual  fertility;  whilst  the  mention  of 
Linschoten,  Barendz  and  Van  Tromp  (though  the  first  two 
carry  us  back  into  the  preceding  century)  is  enough  to 
prove  that  physical  did  not  lag  behind  mental  energy. 
It  might  be  safe  enough  to  sneer  at  the  Princes  of  Orange 
when  they  held  only  the  chief  magistracy;  could  they 
but  arrogate  to  themselves  the  title  of  king  in  such  a 
state,  no  power  could  afford  to  incur  their  enmity.  Unfor- 
tunately, the  wealthy  element  in  the  country  was  strongly 
opposed  to  any  such  measure,  and  the  pertinacity  of  the 
burghers  was  fully  a  match  even  for  that  of  the  descendants 
of  William  the  Silent.  Still  for  the  present  the  Fates  seemed 
kindly.  Prince  Frederic  Henry  had  exchanged  the  title 
of  Excellency  for  that  of  Highness ;  his  son  took  another 
step  in  the  right  direction  when  he  married  the  Princess 
Royal  of  England. 

We  left  Mary  as  she  was  entering  her  new  home.  At 
some  little  distance  from  the  Hague  she  was  met  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  and  by  her  aunt  Elizabeth,  the  widowed 
Queen  of  Bohemia,  who,  with  her  family,  was  living  in  retire- 
ment in  Holland.  A  kind  of  procession  was  then  formed, 
and    amid  the  cheers  of  the  townsmen,  who  had  managed 

1  Lefevre-Pontalis,  "John  de  Witt". 

*  "The  Dutch,  according  to  the  saying  of  a  contemporary,  had  made  them- 
selves the  common  carriers  of  the  world."    Ibid.,  p.  10. 


i8o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

for  the  time  to  shake  off  their  antipathy  to  crowned  heads, 
the  young  Prince  conducted  his  bride  and  her  mother  to 
their  lodging  in  the  New  Palace.  Mary  spent  the  next  six 
weeks  in  making  the  acquaintance  of  her  new  relatives. 
Frederic  Henry,  her  father-in-law,  was  the  son  of  William 
the  Silent  by  his  fourth  wife  Louise  de  Coligny.  He  had 
early  distinguished  himself  under  the  leadership  of  his 
brother  Maurice,  and  in  1625  had  succeeded  him  as  stadt- 
holder.  To  a  prudent  genius  in  war  he  united  some  talent 
for  government.  He  won  the  affections  of  his  people, 
and  added  considerably  to  their  wealth,  by  a  religious 
moderation  that  permitted  the  return  of  the  Jews,  and 
gained  for  himself  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the 
ablest  of  an  able  race.  Having  set  a  wise  limit  to  his 
ambitions  he  succeeded  in  realising  them.  For  himself  he 
obtained  an  increase  of  dignity,  for  his  son  a  royal  prin- 
cess, and  for  his  people  a  satisfactory  conclusion  to  a  war 
that  had  lasted  over  half-a-century.  In  the  presence  of 
his  daughter-in-law,  he  always  exhibited  a  decorous  respect, 
never  approaching  her  but  bare-headed  and  with  a  rever- 
ence. ^  Such  conduct  can  hardly  have  tended  to  soften  the 
feelings  of  his  wife  towards  the  Princess  Royal. 

No-one,  indeed,  disliked  Prince  William's  match  more 
than  his  mother.  Born  of  a  noble  German  family,  Amelia 
de  Solms  had  been  maid-of-honour  to  EHzabeth  of  Bohemia, 
from  which  position  she  had  risen  to  be  Princess  of  Orange. 
Essentially  a  capable  woman,  her  good  qualities  were  to 
some  extent  impaired  by  a  pronounced  affection  for  power 
and  money.  **  La  Princesse,"  wrote  Mazarin,  "  estant  altiere  et 
ambitieuse  au  poinct  qu'elle  I'estj  mettra  tout  en  oeuvre  pour 
conserver  du  credit  et  pour  avoir  part  au  gouvernement." ' 

1  Manley's  "Life  of  the  Duke  Gloucester  and  Princess  Mary,"  p.  14, 

2  G.  van  Prinsterer,  "  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,"  Deuxieme 
S^rie,  tome  iv.,  p.  147. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  i8i 

To  her  avarice  the  French  diplomatists  bore  frequent 
testimony.  They  accused  her  of  taking  bribes  from  Spain 
to  use  her  influence  over  her  husband  and  persuade 
him  to  secure  for  them  a  peace  with  Holland.  That 
she  did  obtain  lands  from  the  Spaniards  there  seems  to 
be  little  doubt.  *  It  does  not,  however,  follow  that  there 
was  anything  very  wrong,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the 
age,  in  the  transaction.  The  Princess's  enemies  no  doubt 
called  it  a  bribe,  but  her  friends  would  have  described  it 
as  a  present.  Moreover,  the  evidence  of  a  baffled  diplomatist 
must  not  be  accepted  without  reserve.  Few  men  are  eager 
to  do  justice  to  their  adversaries  at  the  expense  of  their 
own  reputations;  and  they  are  the  less  so  when  their 
official  despatches  constitute  the  only  outlet  for  their 
vexation.  An  examination  of  the  correspondence  of  Ma- 
zarin's  emissary  with  his  master  leaves  us  with  the  im- 
pression that  Princess  Amelia  did  not  always  have  the 
worst  of  it.  "  Nos  conferences.  . .  ressemblent  k  la  fiebvre 
tierce,"  wrote  Servien,  "il  y  en  a  tousjours  une  bonne 
et  I'autre  mauvaise."  ^  "  S'il  y  avait  de  la  fermete  dans 
son  esprit,  je  penserois  souvent  de  I'avoir  guign^e,  mais 
4  la  visite  suivante  je  luy  trouve  I'esprit  flottant."^  He 
puts  the  caprice  down  to  the  influence  of  a  hostile  favour- 
ite, but  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  Princess  was 
really  a  good  deal  sharper  and  more  definite  in  her 
intentions  than  he  was  ready  to  admit  or  perhaps  realised. 
If  our  view  of  her  character  be  correct  she  was  the  only 
politician  in  the  country  who  saw,  or  at  any  rate  who 
chose  to  see,  its  real  place  in  the  European  system.  A 
temporising  neutrality  with  a  view  towards  Spain  was,  as 
will    presently    be    shown,   the    true    policy   for    the  United 

1  G.  van  Prinsterer,  "Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,"  v.,  p.  170 
a  Ibid.,  p.  185. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  183. 


i82  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Provinces;    and    this    was    precisely    the    course    that    the 
Princess  of  Orange  seems  to  have  favoured. 

If  she  aspired  to  give  a  Dutch  rendering  of  Elizabethan 
diplomacy  she  could  scarcely  have  played  her  cards  better. 
Though  Mazarin  regarded  her  throughout  as  a  dangerous 
force,  he  hesitated  to  declare  open  war  against  her,  and 
in  the  end  she  got  her  way,  contriving  to  throw  over  the 
French  and  conclude  a  treaty  with  Spain  without  damaging 
the  entente  cordiale  between  France  and  the  Netherlands. 
She  may  have  taken  presents  or  bribes  or  whatever  we 
may  like  to  term  them,  from  her  various  political  suitors; 
it  makes  no  real  difference  to  our  judgment  of  her,  if  she 
was  pursuing  a  preconceived  line  of  action.  People  were 
not  more  scrupulous  in  those  days  than  they  are  in  these, 
and  Amelia  probably  saw  no  particular  harm  in  serving 
her  country  and  herself  at  the  same  time,  as  it  happened 
to  be  convenient.  But  we  need  not  hmit  out  praise  to  a 
recognition  of  her  talent  for  intrigue.  Alone,  amongst  the 
members  of  the  House  of  Orange,  she  grasped  the  trend 
of  public  opinion.  Holland  was  incomparably  the  most 
important  of  the  seven  provinces.  *'It  contributed,"  says  Cap- 
tain Mahan,  *'  five-sixths  of  the  fleet  and  fifty-eight  per  cent  of 
the  taxes  and  consequently  had  a  proportionate  share  in 
directing  the  national  policy."  ^  In  1647  it  added  to  its  tradi- 
tional hatred  of  the  House  of  Orange,  a  violent  disHke  to  the 
war  that  was  evidently  being  prolonged  only  in  the  inter- 
ests of  that  family,  though  mainly  supported  by  the  purses 
of  the  Hollanders.  Princess  Amelia  realised  that  there  was 
no  object  in  alienating  further  the  sympathies  of  the  mer- 
chants when  hostilities  had  ceased  to  be  of  a  kind  to  serve 
her  husband's  interests.  If  the  crown  had  not  been  granted 
in  the  crises  of  the  War  of  Independence,  it  was  not  likely 

1  Mahan,  "Influence  of  Sea  Power  upon  History,"  p.  68. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  183 

that  it  would  be  given  when  Spain  had  ceased  to  be  danger- 
ous and  a  great  victory  was  almost  out  of  tbe  question. 
She  saw  that  the  stadtholders  would  never  be  exalted  to 
the  throne,  if  they  allowed  their  ambition  to  govern  their 
prudence ;  they  must  swim  with  public  opinion,  not  struggle 
against  it.  It  is  said  that  on  the  death  of  William  II.  a 
medal  was  struck  by  his  enemies  respresenting  him  as 
Phaethon  falling  from  his  chariot,  and  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion, **Magnis  excidit  ausis"^:  he  would  have  escaped 
the  sneer  had  he  followed  the  counsels  of  his  mother. 
Altogether,  Amelia  de  Solms  was  a  remarkable  woman, 
who  would  possibly  have  raised  high  her  own  name  and 
that  of  her  country,  had  she  possessed  a  free  hand.  As 
grandmother  of  William  III.,  and  responsible  in  some  sense 
for  his  education,  she  has  at  least  a  claim  upon  the 
recognition  of  Englishmen.  But  between  1648  and  1660 — 
the  period  of  Mary's  political  influence — we  see  her  at  her 
worst.  Her  antipathy  to  her  daughter-in-law,  arising  orig- 
inally from  a  very  feminine  pique  at  the  difference  in  rank, 
was  destined  to  lead  her  astray.  After  William's  death 
she  is  the  bitterest  and  most  inveterate  foe  of  the  Princess 
Royal,  and  her  jealousy  completely  obscures  her  patriotism. 
But  this  is  no  reason  why  we  should  ignore  her  great  qual- 
ities. **She  is  a  woman,"  said  Sir  William  Temple,  and 
he  was  no  bad  judge,  "  of  the  most  wit  and  good-sense  in 
general  that  I  have  known."  ^ 

Of  the  minor  characters  at  the  court  little  need  be  said. 
Mary's  confidence  was  mainly  bestowed  upon  the  super- 
intendent of  her  household,  John  Van  der  Kerkhoven,  lord 
of  Heenvliet,  and  his  wife.  Lady  Stanhope.  Heenvliet  was 
the  son  of  a  professor  at  Leyden  and  had  been  employed 
as  ambassador  to  England,  where  he  met  and  married  the 

1  Lefevie-Pontalis,  p.  58. 
»  Ibid. 


i84  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

widowed  mother  of  the  second  Lord  Chesterfield,  who 
returned  with  him  to  Holland.  On  Mary's  arrival  in  the 
Netherlands  her  father  and  mother  could  think  of  no-one 
better  suited  to  be  her  governess  than  this  lady,  and  she 
was  consequently  appointed  to  that  position.  In  later  days 
Charles  II.  accused  his  sister  of  being  governed  by  her 
attendants — a  charge  which  provoked  an  indignant  denial.  ^ 
However  this  may  have  been,  Lady  Stanhope  was  not 
over-officious  in  her  scholastic  duties.  A  letter  of  her 
pupil,  written  in  1642,  is  still  extant,  in  which  the  spelling  is 
doubtful  and  the  writing  atrocious.  '  But  it  is  at  least  not  long, 
and  the  reader  may  judge  of  its  literary  merits  for  himself: — 
''Deare  lady  Lillies,"  (she  writes) 
"Belieue  me  I  have  not  forgott  you  for  nott  writing  to 
you.  I  loue  you  as  well  as  euer  I  did  and  Prays  you  to 
continue  your  letters :  for  neuse,  I  pray  do  not  expete  eny 
from  me,  for  I  hiere  not  butt  what  comes  from  you, 
the  Queene,  and  the  Princes  of  Orange,  and  I  hes  had  a 
Presant  from  the  East  Endy  house ;  soe  Pray  Belieue  I  am 
constantly, 

deare  lady  Lillies, 

Your  most  feathfull  and  louing  freand, 
Marie." 
"Haye  this  8  of 
"December  1642 
"  For  my  dear  lady 
Lillies  Drummond."^ 
Amongst    the    members   of  her   husband's   family,  Mary 
was    intimate  with  Louis  of  Nassau,  lord  of  Beverwaert,  a 
natural  son  of  Maurice  of  Orange,  *  who  seems  in  general  to 

1  Everett-Green,  p.  193. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  135. 

3  Quoted  by  Everett-Green,  p.   134. 
*  Lefevre-Pontalis,  p.  61. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  185 

have  guided  her  policy  after  William's  death.  The  influen- 
tial friends  of  the  Princess  Dowager  were  her  two  sons-in- 
law,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  Count  William  Fre- 
deric of  Nassau,  Stadtholder  of  Friesland.  The  latter  had 
an  excellent  presence  and  fair  abilities.  He  was,  how- 
ever, regarded  with  jealousy  by  the  State  and  failed  to 
achieve  the  success  that  he  had  much  reason  to  expect. 
He  took  care,  we  are  told,  to  be  acquainted  with  all  that 
was  going  on ;  he  was  a  man  of  lofty  ideals  (de  grand 
coeur)  and  consequently  of  high  pretentions.  But  whatever 
he  might  have  effected  for  his  own  or  his  nephew's  interests 
was  frustrated  by  the  incurable  ill-feeling  between  the  two 
princesses.  Neither  of  them  trusted  him  or  would  give 
him  her  confidence.  Excluded  from  the  counsels  of  his 
family  and  feared  by  the  anti-Orange  party,  he  found  him- 
self practically  reduced  to  a  position  of  impotence.  Of 
course,  at  the  time  of  Mary's  landing,  parties  were  not  yet 
defined,  and  under  the  strong  hand  of  Frederic  Henry, 
such  ill-feeling  as  existed  was  to  a  great  degree  suppressed. 
Moreover,  for  the  moment,  foreign  affairs  were  the  magnet 
that  held  the  public  attention. 

The  lifetime  of  Mary  of  Orange  coincides,  curiously 
enough,  with  what  Seeley  has  called  *'  the  age  of  the  Car- 
dinals." Between  1630,  when  Richelieu  had  established 
himself  sufficiently  to  allow  of  his  turning  his  attention  to 
foreign  affairs,  and  1661,  the  date  of  the  death  of  Mazarin, 
was  enacted  that  great  national  and  international  drama, 
which  laid  the  French  nobility  at  the  feet  of  the  French 
king  and  dissipated  for  ever  the  aspirations  of  the  Spanish 
Hapsburgs.  Amid  the  ruins  of  the  empire  of  PhiUp  II. 
rose  that  of  Louis  XIV. 

It  was  a  momentous  epoch  for  France  and  for  Europe, 
and    we    can    attempt    to    indicate   its   varied  aspects  only 


i86  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

so  far  as  they  concern  the  United  Provinces.  For  during 
those  thirty  years  the  motive  power  in  international  policy 
was  subjected  to  a  great  change  at  the  hands  of  Richelieu. 
Hitherto  it  had  been  religious ;  henceforth  it  is  colonial 
and  commercial.  Until  this  time,  if  we  set  aside  the 
transitory  supremacy  of  Sweden  during  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  the  Dutch  had  been  the  continental  representatives 
of  European  Protestantism^  and  in  this  guise  they  had 
been  able,  without  arousing  the  jealousy  of  their  neighbours, 
to  filch  a  large  part  of  the  colonial  possessions  of  the 
Iberian  Empire,  ^  and  appropriate  the  carrying-trade  of  the 
world.  The  Cardinals  and  Cromwell  made  clear,  what  an 
intelligent  observer  might  have  detected  before,  that  this 
monopoly  of  Spanish  colonies  and  general  shipping,  was 
no  longer  going  to  remain  unchallenged.  But  this  was  not 
the  only  cause  of  friction  between  the  United  Provinces 
and  their  old  allies.  England  and  France  had  each  planned 
a  future  for  the  Republic.  To  Cromwell,  with  his  magni- 
ficent scheme  for  a  league  of  European  States  to  propagate 
Protestanism  in  general  and  overthrow  Catholic  supremacy 
in  Germany  in  particular,  the  adhesion  of  the  Dutch  was 
essential.  He  was  ready  to  admit  them  to  a  political 
union  at  once,  but  in  any  case  they  would  have  to  be 
coerced  later  on,  so  at  least  as  to  make  them  completely 
dependent  upon  England  if  not  Hterally  subject  to  the 
English  Government."^ 

A  somewhat  similar  plan  commended  itself  to  Richelieu. 
In  1635  he  made  an  aUiance  with  the  States-General  against 
Spain;  if  it  proved  successful  the  Spanish  Netherlands  were 
to  be  partitioned,  but,  anyhow,  neither  party  was  to  make 
peace  without  the  consent  of  the  other.  The  Dutch  entered 
somewhat  reluctantly  into  this  engagement,  and  it  is  reason- 

1   Spain  and  Portugal  were  united  from  1 580 — 1640. 

3  See  Seeley,  "Growth  of  British  Policy,"  vol.  ii.,  chap.  2. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  187 

able  to  assume  that  they  already  began  to  suspect  the 
drift  of  French  policy ;  *  the  idea  of  natural  boundaries 
seemed  likely  in  course  of  time  to  transform  their  ardent 
ally  into  an  unusually  pertinacious  enemy.  Thus  it  became 
evident  throughout  the  age  of  the  Cardinals  that  the  old 
system  was  breaking  up  and  that  before  long  England  and 
France  would  come  into  collision  with  the  United  Provinces. 
It  is  the  great  blur  on  de  Witt's  statesmanship  that  he 
did  not  choose  to  take  this  into  account. 

But  so  early  as  1643  the  only  sign  of  the  times  that 
was  unmistakeable  was  the  downfall  of  Spain.  In  that 
year  was  fought  the  Battle  of  Rocroi,  a  defeat  which  deprived 
the  Spaniards  of  any  claim  to  be  considered  the  first  military 
power  in  Europe.  A  like  fate  had  overtaken  their  navy 
four  years  previously,  when  Tromp  destroyed  "the  last  of 
great  Spanish  Armadas"  in  the  Downs.  So  clearly,  in  fact, 
had  the  Hapsburgs  fallen  that  we  see  two  parties  form- 
ing themselves  amongst  the  adherents  of  the  House  of 
Orange.  The  Princess  leads  the  one,  the  heir-apparent  the 
other.  Whilst  the  mother  is  anxious  to  make  peace  with 
Spain  and  equalise  the  combatants,  the  son,  governed 
by  his  ambitions,  still  wishes  **to  wade  through  slaughter 
to  a  throne."  We  have  said  already  that  we  believe  that 
AmeHa  was  right.  Holland,  surrounded  by  the  great  powers 
of  Sweden,  England,  France,  and  Spain,  could  not  hope  to 
retain  her  prestige  except  by  a  very  skilful  diplomacy.  Her 
interests  were  bound  to  land  her  ultimately  in  disputes  with 
the  three  first-mentioned  countries.  In  America  and  the 
Indies  she  would  find  England  opposing  her ;  in  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  she  would  be  bound  to  oppose  France,  and  in 
the  Baltic  Sweden  was  already  her  rival.  An  alliance  with 
her  old   enemy    was   probably   the   true   policy,  for  Spain, 

1   Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland"  p.  244. 


i88  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

humiliated  by  her  defeat  at  the  hands  of  France  and 
harassed  by  the  revolt  of  Portugal  and  the  Portuguese 
colonies,  could  scarcely  have  disdained  an  arrangement 
that  would  help  her  so  powerfully  in  her  duel  with  the 
Bourbons.  Had  a  treaty  been  concluded  on  the  basis  of 
commerce  between  the  two  nations  that  still  possessed  some- 
thing not  far  short  of  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  world, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  they  would  have  escaped  many 
humiliations.  They  might  still  have  lost  much  of  their 
wealth,  but  they  would  at  least  have  been  saved  from  the 
ignominy  of  becoming  the  satellites  of  their  greater  neigh- 
bours. As  it  was,  the  eighteenth  century  saw  Holland 
dragged  at  the  tail  of  England,  and  Spain  at  that  of 
France,  whilst  the  nineteenth  has  seen  them  both  reduced 
to  the  rank  of  second-rate  powers. 

The  great  question,  then,  that  occupied  the  public  mind 
during  the  last  years  of  Frederic  Henry  was  whether  or 
not  peace  should  be  made  with  Spain.  In  1647  the  Stadt- 
holder  passed  away,  but  not  before  he  had  committed  the 
United  Provinces  to  a  cessation  of  hostilities.  His  old  age 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  worthy  of  his  great  reputa- 
tion. He  grew  irritable  and  uncertain,  jealous  of  his  son, 
and  the  slave  of  his  wife.  It  could  no  longer  be  said  of 
him  that  *'he  made  every  man  his  friend,  and  seemed  to 
have  enemies  only  that  he  might  be  reconciled  to  them."  ^ 
But  he  had  become  a  victim  to  paralysis,  and  it  is  only 
fair  to  attribute  his  mental  debility  to  his  physical  infirm- 
ities. His  death  brings  to  an  end  the  influence  and  the 
policy  of  Amelia  de  Solms.  William  and  his  mother  had 
long  been  estranged  at  heart,  and  from  this  time  their 
relations  consist  in  little  more  than  a  cold  civility.  Henceforth 
the  policy  of  the  House  of  Orange  is  directed  by  Mazarin. 

*   Quoted  by  Lef^vre-Pontalis,  p.  36. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  189 

Many  influences  had  contributed  to  make  the  new  Prince 
look  to  Paris  for  his  orders,  but  not  least  among  them 
must  be  reckoned  that  of  his  wife.  Naturally  drawn  to- 
wards her  mother's  country,  her  father*s  misfortunes  had 
only  strengthened  its  claims  on  her  affection.  For  by 
1647  Charles'  affairs  were  desperate,  and  if  there  was  yet 
hope  it  was  the  hope  of  foreign  intervention.  To  what 
alliance  of  states  for  this  purpose  was  it  more  natural 
for  Mary  to  look  than  to  an  alliance  between  France  and 
the  Netherlands?  William  was  only  too  ready  to  gratify 
her  desires  so  far  as  it  was  in  his  power.  The  French 
were  the  traditional  friends,  as  the  Spaniards  were  the 
traditional  foes,  of  his  House ;  and  he  hoped  to  make  both 
alike  the  instruments  of  his  ambition.  The  Spaniards  were 
first  to  be  beaten,  and  then  the  French,  partners  in  his 
victory,  were  to  place  him  on  the  throne  of  the  United 
Provinces  and  restore  his  father-in-law  to  that  of  England. 
With  some  such  scheme  as  this  he  is  at  any  rate  generally 
credited.  But  his  policy  was  not  purely  selfish.  Early 
in  1648  he  had  been  forced,  unwillingly  enough,  to  com- 
plete his  father's  work  and  conclude  the  Treaty  of  Munster 
with  Spain,  by  which  the  independence  of  the  Dutch  was 
acknowledged  by  Philip  IV.  There  seems  to  be  little  doubt 
that  he  regarded  this  peace  in  the  light  of  a  national  dis- 
grace. Possessed  of  a  keen  sense  of  duty,  he  thought  it 
shameful  to  violate  the  agreement  of  1635  with  France, 
and,  whilst  his  father  was  still  alive,  he  had  been  active  in 
opposing  what  he  considered  to  be  at  once  a  dishonourable 
and  disastrous  policy.  As  his  conduct  has  formed  the 
subject  of  a  great  deal  of  controversy,  and  as  our  judg- 
ment of  his  merits  as  a  statesman  must  depend  in  some 
degree  upon  his  line  of  action  in  this  affair,  it  is  as  well 
to  examine  shortly  the  circumstances  under  which  the  treaty 
of  Munster  was  concluded. 


I90  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Let  us  admit  at  once  that  from  the  moral  standpoint  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  we  can  say  Httle  in  defence  of  the 
Netherlands.  Harassed  by  the  incessant  hostility  of  Spain, 
in  1635  they  had  sought  the  aid  of  Richelieu,  and  had 
obtained  it,  owing  largely  to  the  insertion  of  a  clause  in 
the  treaty  of  alliance,  which  stipulated  that  the  Provinces 
should  not  make  any  treaty  of  peace  or  truce  except 
conjointly  with  the  King  of  France  and  with  his  consent  I  ^ 
The  French  put  themselves  under  a  reciprocal  obligation. 
For  thirteen  years  both  nations  adhered  to  the  agreement. 
Then  in  1648  the  Dutch  made  peace  at  Munster  without 
the  consent  of  the  King  of  France.  Various  explanations 
were  offered.  It  was  **  said  that  in  forming  the  project  con- 
tained in  the  treaty  of  1635,  the  United  Provinces  did  not 
suppose  that  matters  would  march  so  quickly,  or  that  in 
so  short  a  time  such  remarkable  progress  would  be  made 
against  Spain ".  ^  The  simpler  minds  feared  the  effect  of 
French  proximity  upon  the  restless  disposition  of  the  people : 
the  subtler  dreaded  a  rising  of  the  Dutch  Catholics,  a  divi- 
sion in  the  Republic  which  might  throw  the  weaker  pro- 
vinces into  the  arms  of  France,  or  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  possess  himself  of  the  crown. ' 
These  reasons  appear  to  us  to  be  perfectly  valid.  The 
easy  victory  that  the  two  countries  had  obtained  over  the 
Hapsburgs,  had  upset  the  balance  of  power.  Spain  was  no 
longer  an  enemy  to  be  feared ;  France,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  growing  dangerous.  It  had  been  shown  beyond  a 
doubt  that  Mazarin  was  perfectly  willing  to  treat  with 
Philip  IV.  in  1648,  but  we  are  very  far  from  agreeing  with 
the    Editor  of  the  Orange-Nassau  Archives  that,  ''had  the 

1  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  "  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,"  Deux- 
ieme  S^rie,  tome  iv.,  pp.  Ixxvii,  Ixxviii,  Ixxix. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  189. 
•Ibid.,  pp.  189,  190. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  191 

Netherlands  enabled  him  to  do  so,  they  would  have  stim- 
ulated his  gratitude  to  such  an  extent  that  they  need  no 
longer  have  feared  his  designs."  *  "  Fais  ce  que  dois,  ad- 
vienne  que  pourra"  is  an  exceedingly  beautiful  motto,  but 
it  is  hardly  a  safe  one  to  adopt  in  dealing  with  such  prac- 
tical casuists  as  Mazarin  and  Louis  XIV.  There  is  but 
little  to  be  said,  if  we  consider  only  the  material  interests 
of  a  nation,  for  a  man  who  allows  his  purist  sympathies 
to  get  the  better  of  his  patriotic  ambitions  by  aiming  at 
a  higher  international  morality  than  his  age  allows  of. 
That  dangerous  maxim  of  Mirabeau,  "La  petite  morale 
est  ennemie  de  la  grande  morale,"  has  in  this  case  a  real 
and  valuable  application.  In  the  seventeenth  century  grati- 
tude was  not  numbered  among  international  virtues;  and 
we  are  confident  that  no  sense  of  obligation  would  have 
deterred  Mazarin  from  fashioning  a  new  device,  now  that 
force  had  failed  him,  to  gain  the  object  of  his  desires. 
But,  in  fact,  that  this  would  have  been  the  case  need  rest 
on  no  assumption.  "  Deja  le  20  Janvier,  1646,"  writes 
Mignet,  ''il  en  fait  mention  aux  plein  potentiaires  a  Munster; 
*  I'infante  etant  mariee  a  sa  majeste,  nous  pourrions  aspirer 
a  la  succession  des  royaumes  d'Espagne,  quelque  renon- 
ciation  qu'on  lui  en  fit  faire.* "  '  Comment  seems  scarcely 
necessary.  Mazarin  would  take  the  Spanish  Netherlands 
when  and  how  he  could  get  them;  if  they  could  be  made 
the  dowry  of  Maria  Theresa,  so  much  the  better.  In  the 
face  of  this  it  is  almost  impossible  to  maintain  that  William 
would  have  benefited  his  country  had  he  helped  the  Car- 
dinal to  realise  his  project  at  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 

Still,   in   so   far  as  his  action  was  prompted  by  a  desire 
to  protect  the  national  character  from  the  deleterious  effects 

1  G.  van  Prinsterer,  "  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,"  p.  Ixxxviii. 
3  Mignet,  "  Negoc.  relatives  a  la  succession  d'E^pagne."  (Quoted  by  G.  van 
Prinsterer.) 


192  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  a  broken  oath,  William  was  certainly  right.  *' Pactum 
serva"  is  a  principle  that  will  obtain  a  fair  hearing  for  the 
weakest  of  statesmen;  and  William  deserves  every  credit 
for  his  policy,  where  it  was  dictated  by  a  high-minded  in- 
tegrity. But  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  other  motives 
were  potent  in  forming  his  conclusion.  An  ardent  soldier, 
and  one,  moreover,  who  was  justly  conscious  of  his  capacity 
for  war,  he  clung  firmly  to  the  idea  that  military  success 
was  the  surest  pathway  to  the  throne.  Mazarin  was  careful 
to  encourage  him  in  this  belief:  ''You  may  suggest,"  he 
writes  to  Servien,  the  French  ambassador,  **  that  circumstances 
might  arise  in  which,  if  he  were  assured  of  the  protection 
and  good-will  of  their  Majesties,  he  might  attain  to  a  great- 
ness far  other  than  that  of  his  predecessors."  ^  As  it 
chanced,  the  desire  to  revoke  the  Treaty  of  Munster,  which 
William  began  to  exhibit  on  his  accession,  was  fostered 
by  events  in  England.  The  Royalist  failure  in  the  Second 
Civil  War  had  been  insufficient  to  provoke  the  Hollanders 
(with  whom  the  decision  really  rested)  to  enter  upon  hos- 
tilities with  England ;  nor  did  the  execution  of  King  Charles, 
which  followed  in  1649,  serve  to  alter  their  decision. 
Representing  as  they  did  the  opposition  to  the  court,  they 
could  not  but  feel  sympathy  for  those  who  were  fighting 
a  somewhat  similar  constitutional  battle  in  England,  and 
they  had  declined  to  do  more  than  make  an  offer  of 
mediation  between  King  and  Parliament.  Mary  was  over- 
come with  grief  at  the  death  of  her  father,  to  whom  she 
had  been  especially  attached,  and  it  seemed  to  her  but 
a  poor  compliment  that  the  Dutch  should  acknowledge 
King  Charles  II.  and  almost  simultaneously  admit  an  agent 
of  the  English  Parliament,  Dr.  Dorislaus.  This  man,  who 
seems    to    have    attracted    more    attention    than   he   really 

1  Quoted  by  Leftvre-rontalis,  p.  37. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  193 

merits,  was  the  son  of  a  Dutch  minister,  and  had  been 
parliamentary  counsel  at  the  trial  of  Charles  I.  ^  Hence  it 
would  have  been  hard  to  devise  a  greater  insult  to  Mary 
or  indeed  to  the  Netherlands,  than  his  selection  as  English 
envoy,  and  it  is  difficult  not  to  feel  that  he  richly  deserved 
the  death  which  he  met  on  the  night  after  his  arrival  at 
the  hands  of  some  of  the  refugee  followers  of  Montrose.  ^  The 
murderers  escaped  punishment,  owing,  it  is  said,  to  the  in- 
fluence of  William,  but  the  indignation  of  the  burghers 
made  it  expedient  that  the  King  of  Scots,  for  so  Charles  II. 
was  generally  called,  should  leave  the  Hague,  which  he 
accordingly  did.  The  Prince  and  Princess  accompanied 
him  to  Breda,  where  they  entertained  him  magnificently. 
Out  of  his  private  fortune,  William  made  his  brother-in-law 
what  amends  he  could  for  the  apathy  of  the  Republic  and 
in  the  following  year  helped  to  equip  the  expedition  to 
Scotland.  '  His  generosity  must  not  be  overlooked,  for  he 
was  at  the  time  engaged  in  his  famous  struggle  with  the 
mercantile  interest  in  Holland. 

This  contest  was  occasioned  by  a  dispute  concerning 
the  disbandment  of  troops  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war 
with  Spain.  The  decay  of  the  navy,  the  natural  incidence 
of  the  burden  of  taxation  upon  the  richest  province,  and 
a  dread  of  the  designs  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  which  was 
not,  as  we  have  seen,  without  justification,  combined  to 
make  the  Hollanders  anxious  for  a  considerable  reduction 
in  the  military  establishment.  At  their  instance,  the  States- 
General  had  consented  to  suppress  twenty-eight  thousand 
men,  *  partly  Dutchmen  and  partly  foreigners,  nor  did  the 
Stadtholder  offer  any    opposition.     But  they  proceeded  to 

»  Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland,"  p.  251. 
2  Gardiner,  vol.  x.,  pp.  72,  73. 
8  Everett-Green,  p.  154. 
*  L.  Pontalis,  p.  38. 

13 


194  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

demand  a  further  disbandment  of  two  thousand  nine  hundred 
men,  who  represented  a  part  of  their  provincial  contingent. 
This  caused  a  rupture  between  the  central  Government 
and  the  provincial  States  of  Holland.  It  has  been  the 
fashion  to  criticise  severely  William's  share  in  the  dispute.  But 
that  he  was  eager  to  provoke  a  civil  war,  it  is  argued,  he  might 
have  given  in  on  so  unimportant  a  question  as  the  reten- 
tion or  dismissing  of  three  thousand  troops.  ^  The  presence 
of  this  force  might  perhaps  have  exerted  a  greater  effect  in 
case  of  war  than  William's  critics  are  willing  to  allow; 
but,  however  this  may  be,  it  is  not  easy,  looking  at  the 
matter  from  the  opposite  point  of  view,  to  defend  the 
attitude  of  the  burghers.  As  the  largest  tax-payers  they 
had  no  doubt  a  perfect  right  to  claim  a  voice  in  the 
management  of  the  army;  but  William  had  recognised 
this  fully  when  he  refrained  from  opposing  their  original 
request.  In  objecting  to  a  further  decrease  in  the  military 
strength  of  the  Republic  he  was  entirely  justified  by  virtue 
of  his  office  as  Captain-General.  No  doubt  a  little  less 
obstinacy  on  both  sides  would  easily  have  availed  to  bring 
about  a  compromise,  but  that  was  precisely  what  neither 
party  was  prepared  to  accept.  The  quarrel  was  in  fact 
only  the  final  expression  of  a  mutual  distrust  that  had  long 
existed.  Just  as  in  England  the  King  and  the  Parliament 
were  alike  firmly  convinced  that  the  command  of  the  militia 
was  essential  to  their  well-being,  so  here  neither  the 
Stadtholder  nor  the  Estates  felt  that  they  could  give  in 
without  an  abrogation  of  principle.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  apportion  the  ultimate  blame. 
The  Princess  Royal  had,  throughout,  encouraged  her  hus- 
band in  his  policy  of  resistance,  ^  but  she  did  not  spare 
herself  in  attempting  to  bring  the  affair  to  a  peaceful  con- 

i  See,  for  instance,  L.  Pontalis,  p.  38, 
2  Thorold  Rogers'  "Holland,"  p.  852. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  195 

elusion.  An  intense  consciousness  of  what  she  owed  to  her 
dignity  had  always  been  one  of  her  most  marked  charac- 
teristics; in  1646  she  had  refused  to  be  present  at  the  mar- 
riage of  her  sister-in-law  to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg; 
because,  as  Electress,  Princess  Louisa  claimed  precedence 
of  her.  On  the  present  occasion,  however,  she  condescended 
to  visit  the  wives  of  the  more  important  members  of  the 
provincial  assembly,  in  the  hope  of  influencing  their  votes ;  * 
an  unbending  that  provoked  much  comment.  But  her  can- 
vass, perhaps  deservedly,  was  unavailing.  The  Estates 
hastened  their  deliberations  and  ordered  the  obnoxious  com- 
panies to  be  suppressed.  William  no  longer  hesitated  to 
take  up  the  glove,  and  on  the  next  day  obtained  the  official 
support  of  the  States-General,  who  decreed  that  the  com- 
panies should  be  retained.  Once  irritation  had  been  set 
up  there  was  no  difficulty  in  fostering  it,  and  ultimately 
four  provinces  agreed  virtually  to  suspend  the  constitution 
by  conferring  special  authority  upon  the  Stadtholder,  which 
empowered  him  to  confer  with  the  town-councils  of  Holland, 
accompanied  by  six  deputies  and  attended  by  a  military 
escort. '  At  Delft  the  leader  of  the  national  emissaries  accused 
the  burgher-members  of  the  Estates  of  a  desire  to  withdraw. 
The  insinuation  was  hotly  denied.  The  burgomaster  and 
ex-burgomaster  of  Amsterdam,  two  brothers  of  the  name  of 
Bicker,  fearing  a  similar  scene  in  their  city,  declined  to 
admit  the  Prince,  unless  he  came  without  the  deputies. 

Their  alleged  motive  in  taking  this  course  was  possibly 
genuine;  but  it  is  well  to  remember  that  Amsterdam  was 
the  stronghold  of  the  opposition  and  that  its  magistrates 
may  not  have  been  sorry  cO  drive  matters  to  an  extremity. 
Some  few  months  before,  Brusset,  in  writing  to  Mazarin,  had 
noticed    a    revulsion    of  feeling    against   the    peace    with 

1  L.  Pontalis,  p.  39.     Ibid.,  p.  40. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  41. 


196  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Spain,  "sur  laquelle  j'entends  que  la  pluspart  des  villes  de 
Hollande  murmurent  fort  et  qu'il  n'y  a  quasi  qu'  Amster- 
dam qui  les  tienne  en  bride ;  encore  n'est  ce  que  par  le 
seul  interest  de  quelques  families  qui  en  profitent;  celle 
des  Bikers  est  la  principale."  He  goes  on  to  counsel  the 
Cardinal  to  pay  some  attention  to  the  son  of  the  head  of 
this  family,  who  was  then  in  Paris.  ^  If  the  French  ambas- 
sador is  to  be  relied  upon,  a  good  deal  of  responsibility  for 
the  dispute  must  therefore  rest  with  the  leading  members 
of  the  burgher  aristocracy,  but  his  statements  cannot  of 
course  be  accepted  without  reserve. 

Anyhow,  whether  they  had  desired  it  or  not,  the  Bickers 
had  turned  the  scales  in  favour  of  war.  Although  the 
deputies  for  Amsterdam  offered  an  apology  for  the  conduct 
of  their  fellow-townsmen,  and  although  the  States-General 
were  in  a  fair  way  to  come  to  terms  with  the  provincial 
States  about  the  military  question,  yet  a  resolution  on  the 
part  of  the  latter  body,  asserting  that  their  permission  was 
necessary  to  enable  the  Stadtholder  and  the  national  depu- 
ties to  confer  with  the  town-councils,  ^  decided  William  to 
execute  a  coup  cPetat  that  had  long  been  suggested.  Six 
months  before  Count  William  of  Nassau  had  written  in 
cipher  to  him  that  he  **  ought  to  think  of  seizing  Amster-  ' 
dam,"  ^  and  he  continued  to  press  the  scheme  during  the 
early  days  of  the  crisis.  But  from  this  very  fact  it  seems 
likely— and  we  believe  no  evidence  exists  to  the  contrary 
— that  William  gave  no  assent  to  these  proposals  until  he 
had  been  refused  admission  into  Amsterdam;  and  it  is 
therefore  unjust  to  assert  positively  that  he  intended  through- 
out to  provoke  a  civil  war  and  by  this  means  attain  his 
object.     On    the    other  hand,   it   is   not  easy  to  deny  that 

1  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  pp.  340,  341. 

2  L.  Pontalis,  p.  43. 

*  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  p.  337. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  197 

he  showed  no  disposition  to  accept  a  peaceable  settlement 
after  he  had  been,  as  he  conceived,  grossly  insulted. 

Shortly  told,  his  plan  of  action  was  as  follows.  Six  of 
the  prominent  members  of  the  opposition  in  the  provincial 
States,  amongst  whom  was  Jacob  de  Witt,  the  father  of 
the  future  Grand  Pensionary,  were  to  be  arrested  and  con- 
veyed to  the  Castle  of  Loevenstein.  At  the  same  time 
Count  William  of  Nassau  was  to  be  despatched  to  capture 
Amsterdam,  marching  his  force  in  detachments  and  by  night 
for  the  sake  of  secrecy.  It  was  intended  to  obtain  entrance 
into  the  city  by  the  aid  of  some  fifty  devoted  officers,  who 
were  to  be  concealed  in  the  Utrecht  boat,  and,  on  reaching 
their  destination,  were  to  seize  one  of  the  gates,  hold  it, 
and  admit  their  confederates.  The  movements  of  the  Prin- 
cess Royal,  it  is  curious  to  notice,  were  to  be  used  by  her 
husband  as  a  blind,  just  as  they  had  been  on  a  previous 
occasion  by  her  mother;  for  the  garrison  of  Utrecht  were 
to  leave  that  town,  ostensibly  to  act  as  her  escort,  but  in 
reality  to  join  the  invading  force  and  aid  Count  William. 

Ill-luck  ruined  the  plot.  The  cavalry  lost  their  way  in 
the  underwood ;  the  officers  were  discovered  in  their  hiding- 
place;  and  so  ignorant  were  Count  William's  subordinates 
of  his  intentions,  that  one  of  them  allowed  the  Hamburg 
mail  to  pass  and  warn  the  burghers  of  the  projected  attack. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  was  much  disturbed  at  hearing  of  the 
failure,  but  determined  to  accomplish  by  force  that  which 
he  had  failed  to  carry  out  by  fraud.  Leaving  the  Hague,  he 
placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  and  would  have  begun 
the  siege  of  the  town  had  it  not  been  strongly  represented 
to  him  that  its  recalcitrant  citizens  had  a  weapon  at  their 
disposal  with  which  he  would  be  powerless  to  cope ; 
a  weapon  that  would  not  merely  bring  safety  to  the  be- 
sieged, but  disaster  to  the  besiegers.  The  inhabitants  of 
Amsterdam   were   not   ignorant  of  the  deeds  of  their  fore- 


198  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

fathers,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  threaten  that  they  would 
defeat  their  own  Stadtholder  by  the  same  means  that  had 
been  employed  to  destroy  the  Spanish  tyrants.  Had  William 
advanced,  the  sluices  would  have  been  opened,  the  town 
rendered  unapproachable  and  his  army  surrounded  and  sub- 
merged by  the  incoming  tide.  As  it  was,  he  realised  his 
impotence  and  sadly  accepted  the  inevitable.  Contenting 
himself  with  obtaining  the  dismissal  of  the  Bickers,  he  with- 
drew, and  soon  after  Hberated  his  imprisoned  enemies  on 
condition  that  they  resigned  all  their  public  offices.*  The 
question  of  the  troops  ended  in  a  compromise.  Thus  all 
that  the  prince  had  gained  had  been  the  expulsion  of  the 
obnoxious  magistrates  from  their  magistracies,  whilst  he 
had  lost  prestige  to  an  extent  for  which  his  material  suc- 
cess did  not  compensate  him.  How  much  he  had  really 
hoped  to  obtain  by  his  coup  d'etat^  it  is  impossible  to  de- 
termine, but  the  opinion  of  Brusset  is  worth  quoting:  — 
"J'entends,"  he  wrote,  "que  les  pratiques  vont  a  donner 
quelque  changement  au  regime  de  cet  estat;  qu'il  se  pro- 
pose de  le  remettre  tel  qu'il  estoit  anciennement  au  con- 
seil  d'Estat.  J'en  parlay  hier  a  M.  le  Prince  d'Orange;  je 
ne  Ten  trouvay  pas  fort  esloigne,  croiant  que  cela  lui 
seroit  avantageux,  son  Altesse  ayant  deux  voix  dans  ledit 
conseil  et  nuUe  dans  I'assemblee  de  Mrs.  les  Estats.'" 

The  consciousness  of  failure  kept  William  away  from 
the  Hague  for  some  weeks.  Pretending  to  seek  rest  from 
mental  exertion  by  physical  exercise  in  the  hunting-field, 
he  was  in  reality  finding  it  by  increased  political  activity. 
Turning  his  attention  from  his  domestic  disappointments, 
he  secretly  set  to  work  with  the  aid  of  Estrades,  Mazarin's 
emissary,   to    draw    up    a   scheme — it   is  doubtful  whether 


*   L.  Pontalis,  p.  54. 

5  Groen  ran  Prinsterer,  p.  377. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  199 

we  may  call  it  a  treaty^ — for  a  combined  attack  on  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  in  the  following  May  and  a  war  with 
England  in  favour  of  the  Stuarts;  a  stipulation  was  also 
inserted  by  which  the  contracting  parties  undertook,  as  in 
1635,  not  to  make  a  separate  peace  with  Spain.  Whether 
this  agreement  represents  a  determination  on  the  part  of 
the  prince  .to  throw  over  constitutional  forms  and  commit 
the  States-General  to  war  without  obtaining  their  consent, 
or  whether  he  intended  to  submit  it  for  their  approval,  will 
always  be  a  fruitful  subject  for  discussion.  We  know, 
however,  that  in  the  August  before  (the  draft  is  dated 
Oct.  20)^  he  had  proposed  to  them  through  one  of  his 
creatures  that  the  United  Provinces  should  offer  to  mediate 
between  France  and  Spain,  hoping  in  this  way  to  em- 
broil them  with  the  latter  country:^  "Je  ne  desespere  pas 
que  nous  n'ayons  bientost  la  guerre  contre  les  Espagnols  ; 
mais  il  fault  bien  prendre  ses  mesures."^  The  mediatory 
negotiations,  however,  do  not  seem  to  have  proved  as 
contentious  as  he  had  expected;  at  all  events  up  to  Octo- 
ber an  accommodation  was  far  from  being  despaired  of.* 
The  inference,  therefore,  must  be  that  the  secret  agreement 
was  the  last  card  of  one  who,  being  determined  to  have 
a  war  with  Spain,  would  not  shrink  from  unconstitutional 
means  to  obtain  it.  But  William  was  not  destined  to 
emulate  the  deeds  of  his  ancestors.  Another  struggle,  and 
one  in  which  he  could  cherish  no  hope  of  victory,  was  at 
hand.  On  his  return  to  the  Hague  he  received  a  challenge 
from  the  great  duellist ;  on  the  6th  November  he  was  dead. 
Fate,  which  had  been  so  cruel  to  him  in  his  life,  was 
at  least  merciful  in  his  death.     He  had  attained  manhood 

1  See  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  pp.  cxx,  cxxi. 

2  Seeley,  "Growth  of  British  Policy,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  7. 

*  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  p.  408. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  409. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  427. 


200  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

just  too  late  to  take  the  lead  in  the  struggle  against  Spain, 
he  would  have  been  well  past  his  prime  before  Europe 
entered  upon  her  great  contest  with  France.  It  was  lucky 
for  his  fame  that  he  was  removed  from  the  scene  of  his 
ambitions  before  he  had  time  to  prosecute  them  further. 
For  his  military  ardour  and  the  hopes  that  he  cherished 
for  the  child  that  was  yet  unborn,  had  led  him  to  run 
counter  to  the  national  will,  and  to  take  up  a  position 
which  was  false  to  the  traditions  of  his  family.  "If  my 
goods  are  stolen,"  had  said  an  opposition  pamphlet,  "if 
my  hands  are  tied,  my  freedom  taken  from  me,  what 
matters  it  to  me  if  he  who  does  this  is  a  Spaniard,  a  bar- 
barian, or  a  fellow-countryman?"  William,  doubtless,  did 
not  intend  to  act  otherwise  than  rightly.  He  believed  in 
the  mission  of  the  House  of  Orange  to  hold  the  confedera- 
tion together,  and  he  may  fairly  have  argued  that  the 
preponderating  power  of  Holland  required  the  strength- 
ening of  the  central  executive.  But  though  we  may 
palliate  his  attack  upon  Amsterdam,  we  cannot  defend  his 
seizure  of  the  six  members.  That  was  an  action  as  unwise 
as  it  was  unconstitutional,  for  it  justified  the  fears  of  his 
enemies.  A  continuance  of  his  domestic  policy  could  have 
led  to  nothing  but  civil  war.  Nor  was  his  foreign  policy 
better  calculated  to  meet  the  desires  of  the  richer  and 
more  capable  part  of  the  nation.  His  attempt  to  bind  the 
Netherlands  to  France  would  merely  have  promoted  the 
ascendency  of  that  country;  whilst  he  himself,  unable  to 
enforce  his  will  but  with  the  aid  of  his  more  powerful 
neighbour,  must  have  been  confronted  with  the  choice  of 
John  Balliol  or  Louis  Bonaparte — slavery  or  abdication. 
"Les  esgards,  Monseigneur,"  Brasset  had  written  to 
Mazarin,  "que  vous  avez  pour  Mr.  le  Prince  Guillaume 
sont  fondez  en  beaucoup  de  prudence  et  de  raison,  aussy 
bien  que  le  jugement  que  vous  faictes  qu'il  est  plus  facile  de 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  201 

gouverner  un  homme  qu'une  multitude."  ^  Strong,  prudent, 
determined,  at  once  ardent  and  collected,  ^  William  was  no 
match  for  the  subtle  Itahan.  The  net  had  been  carefully 
spread;  had  he  lived  much  longer  he  would  have  been 
vainly  struggling  in  its  meshes. 

The  death  of  her  husband  left  Mary  a  broken-hearted 
widow  of  nineteen.  A  week  later  she  gave  birth  to  the 
child,  who  was  one  day  to  become  King  of  England.  It 
is  this  event  which  lends  an  interest  to  her  widowed  life. 
Had  the  posthumous  infant  proved  to  be  a  girl,  the 
Princess  and  her  daughter  would  have  retired  into  the  seclu- 
sion of  private  life;  there  could  have  been  no  question 
of  having  a  woman  for  stadtholder.  But  as  the  mother  of 
the  feeble  boy  who  represented  the  House  of  Orange, 
Mary  was  bound  to  retain  a  certain  influence ;  she  must  be 
at  least  the  nominal  head  of  her  son's  following.  And 
Mary,  young  as  she  was,  showed  herself  conscious  of  her 
duties :  "  I  desire  to  be  married  only  to  the  interests  of  my 
son"  was  the  reason  she  gave  for  remaining  single.  But 
as  time  went  on  another  care  was  laid  on  her.  The  death 
of  her  husband  had  destroyed  the  expectations  of  Mazarin, 
and,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the 
Dutch  republicans,  the  cardinal  decided  to  throw  over  the 
Stuarts  altogether  and  form  an  alliance  with  Cromwell. 
This  revolution  rendered  Henrietta  Maria  impotent  to  help 
her  son,  unable  even  to  obtain  a  home  for  him  at  her 
nephew's  court.  Hence  Mary,  as  the  only  member  of  the 
family  who  possessed  a  recognized  position  and  adequate 
income,  became  more  and  more  the  counsellor  and  confi- 
dant of  Prince  Charles. 

To    secure    the    stadtholdership    for  her   son,  to  aid  her 

1  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  p.  172.  ' 

2  "H  a  du  feu  et  du  phlegme,"  Brienne. 


202  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

brother  to  regain  *' his  own",  these  became  the  objects 
of  her  existence.  And  it  is  this  desire  to  satisfy  the  claims 
of  her  family  that  ennobles  and  illuminates  a  Hfe  that  was 
not  otherwise  remarkable.  For  patriotism  Mary  did  not 
possess ;  the  idea  of  identifying  her  interests  with  those  of 
her  people  was  as  foreign  to  her  nature  as  to  that  of  her 
father. 

To  do  her  justice,  however,  it  is  only  fair  to  remember 
that  the  States-General  never  gave  her  cause  to  love  them. 
As  soon  as  the  formal  condolences  had  been  offered  and 
the  formal  mourning  worn,  they  proceeded  to  destroy 
WiUiam's  work  down  to  the  very  foundation.  At  the 
instigation  of  the  Estates  of  Holland,  a  great  assembly  was 
called  at  the  Hague  in  165 1  and  the  constitution  was  set 
upon  an  entirely  new  basis.  It  would  be  impossible  within 
the  limits  of  this  article  to  deal  with  the  changes  in  detail. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  effect  of  the  conference  was 
to  weaken  the  confederation  by  leaving  the  office  of 
Stadtholder  unfilled  in  five  provinces  and  entrusting  the 
provincial  administration  to  the  provincial  Estates.  Nominally, 
the  control  of  foreign  affairs,  of  peace  and  war,  and  of 
all  important  national  interests  was  vested  in  the  States- 
General,  but  in  reality  the  central  government  was  dependent 
on  the  local  assemblies,  since  it  was  within  the  power  of 
these  to  refuse  to  carry  out  the  mandates  of  their  superior. 
Provincial  independence  was  further  increased  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  offices  of  admiral  and  captain-general,  their  place 
being  filled  by  the  Council  of  State,  the  local  councillor 
deputies,  and  the  local  admiralty  boards.  In  practice  the 
main  result  of  these  changes  was  to  establish  the  prepon- 
derance of  Holland  and  make  her  chief  official — the  Grand 
Pensionary — virtually  prime  minister  of  the  United,  or,  as 
was  sometimes  and  more  correctly  said,  of  the  Disunited, 
Provinces.     The  new  constitution  was,  of  course,  a  victory 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  203 

for  the  republicans,  but  it  need  not  have  been  by  any 
means  so  complete  had  not  the  House  of  Orange  exhibited 
an  entire  incapacity  to  present  an  united  front  to  its  op- 
ponents. Something  has  been  said  already  of  the  two 
parties  that  grouped  themselves  round  the  Princess  Royal 
and  the  Princess  Dowager.  Their  divisions  seem  to  have 
begun  over  the  trifling  question  of  a  suitable  name  for  the 
young  Prince.  Mary  was  anxious  that  he  should  be  called 
Charles,  but  her  mother-in-law  considered  the  name  unlucky 
and  pronounced  in  favour  of  William.  On  this  occasion, 
at  all  events,  the  Princess  Royal  showed  herself  conciliatory 
and  the  Princess  Dowager  had  her  way.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, to  be  so  always.  A  fresh  dispute  arose  as  to  who 
was  to  be  the  child's  guardian,  Mary  claiming  the  position 
as  his  mother,  Amelia  alleging  that  her  daughter-in-law's 
youth  rendered  her  incapable  of  fulfilling  its  duties  ade- 
quately. An  indisputable  proof,  however,  of  her  husband's 
intention  that  she  should  enjoy  the  guardianship  was  pro- 
duced by  the  Princess  Royal,  in  the  shape  of  a  will  dated 
Dec.  2 1st,  1649;^  ^^^  ^is  was  re-inforced  soon  after  by 
the  discovery  of  a  copy  of  an  order  to  Count  Dohna,  the 
Governor  of  Orange,  enjoining  him,  in  case  of  William's 
death,  to  hold  that  place  for  the  Princess  Royal.  ^  These 
documents  obtained  a  decision  in  Mary's  favour,  from  the 
States-General,  but  soon  after  a  revision  was  granted  and 
this  time  the  verdict  was  not  so  favourable.  For,  in  the 
meanwhile,  the  evidence  that  had  been  elicited  relative  to 
the  recent  attempt  on  Amsterdam  had  created  a  feeling 
very  hostile  to  the  Princess  Royal,  since  it  was  shown 
that  her  influence  had  not  been  the  least  powerful  factor 
in  the  promotion  of  the  enterprise.  ^    The  new  arrangement 

1  Everett-Green,  p.  170. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  171. 

*  Carte's  Ormond  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  44. 


204  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

only  gave  her  a  voice  in  the  government  of  her  son,  the 
other  voice  being  divided  between  the  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg and  the  Princess  Dowager.  If,  as  indeed  was 
most  probable,  disputes  arose,  they  were  to  be  submitted 
to  the  arbitration  of  four  persons,  two  chosen  by  each 
party,  who  were  enacted  to  choose  a  fifth  to  give  a 
casting  vote,  in  case  of  necessity.  To  these  and  other 
less  important  provisions  Mary,  after  some  hesitation, 
assented. 

It  might,  indeed,  have  gone  ill  with  her  had  she  refused 
them.  The  States-General,  now  little  more  than  a  tool  in 
the  hands  of  the  Estates  of  Holland,  had  already  admitted 
an  embassy  from  the  Enghsh  Commonwealth  to  offer  "a 
more  strict  and  intimate  alliance  and  union  whereby  there 
may  be  a  more  intrinsical  and  mutual  interest  of  each  in 
other  than  hath  hitherto  been,  for  the  good  of  both."  ^  The 
negotiations  that  followed  are  not  particularly  instructive. 
The  English  ambassadors,  St.  John  and  Strickland,  showed 
an  eagerness  to  hasten  the  slow  Dutch  mind,  that  is  the 
more  pardonable  when  we  remember  that  they  were  sub- 
jected to  continual  danger  and  insult  from  the  mob,  their 
windows  being  broken  and  St.  John  narrowly  escaping 
assassination.  "  The  States-General,  on  the  other  hand,  did 
not  appreciate  the  tyrannical  tone  adopted  by  the  sister- 
republic  and  were  not  anxious  at  all  for  a  political  union, 
which  project  they  saw  was  only  a  polite  way  of  intimating 
that  they  were  to  be  eaten  whole,  their  colonies  included. 
At  length  they  ferreted  out,  for  some  reason  best  known  to 
themselves,  the  ancient  Intercursus  Magnus  that  Henry  VII. 
had  concluded  with  Archduke  Philip.  It  "stipulated  (we  quote 
from  Mr.  Gardiner)  not  only  that  neither  of  the  contracting 
parties    should    give    aid    to  the  enemies  of  the  other,  but 

1  Quoted  by  Firth,  "Cromwell,"  p.  313. 

2  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  Apr.  165 1,  and  Seeley,  vol.  ii.,  p.  20. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  205 

also  that  each  should  lend  military  aid  to  suppress  them 
at  the  expense  of  its  ally;  and  that  neither  should  receive 
or  support  rebels  or  fugitives  of  the  other,  but  that  each 
should  expel  them  if  they  had  already  found  a  refuge  on 
its  soil."  ^  St.  John,  disgusted  at  the  treatment  he  had 
received  ^  and  probably  inferring  that  the  Dutch  had  no 
intention  of  acceding  to  the  English  demands,  now  proposed 
to  withdraw.  The  United-Provinces,  however,  begged  for 
a  prolongation  of  the  embassy,  which  was  granted.  To 
test  their  sincerity  the  ambassadors  suggested  that  the 
provisions  of  the  Intercursus  Magnus  should  be  adapted 
to  present  circumstances,  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  Stuart 
princes  should  be  expelled  from  the  Netherlands  and  the 
property  of  the  Princess  Royal  confiscated,  if  she  dared 
to  receive  her  brothers.  This  brought  the  negotiations  to 
a  crisis.  The  fact  was  that  the  Dutch  felt  that  the  English 
Republic  was  yet  green  in  its  estate.  "  They  inquired 
much,"  we  read  in  Whitelocke,  "  after  the  affairs  in  Scot- 
land and  seemed  inclinable  to  a  good  correspondence  with 
England"  and  **  that  Holland  is  more  inclinable  to  an  agree- 
ment with  the  ambassadors  than  the  other  provinces  are."  ^ 
In  the  end  they  made  some  cautious  proposals :  each  party 
was  to  aid  the  other  at  the  expense  of  the  party  benefited, 
no  help  was  to  be  given  in  either  country  to  persons 
obnoxious  to  the  other,  the  colonies  of  both  peoples  were 
to  lie  open  for  commerce.  "*  Though  in  this  official  reply 
there  is  no  reference  to  the  Stuarts  in  the  narrative  of 
the  ambassadors,  the  Dutch  are  credited  with  the  following 
statement:  "We  cannot  banish  from  our  soil  all  persons 
who  are  banished  out  of  England.     Our  country  is  a  refuge 

1  Gardiner,  vol.  xiv.,  pp.  362 — 3. 

2  Whitelocke,  April  165 1. 

3  Whitelocke,  May  1651. 
*  Gardiner,  pp.  364 — 5. 


2o6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

for  the  exiles  of  all  nations."  ^  At  any  rate,  they  were 
considered  to  have  declined  the  preferred  alliance,  and 
St.  John  took  an  amicable  leave  without  further  delay. 

How  far  must  we  consider  the  Princess  Royal  responsible 
for  the  war  that  followed  in  1652?  She  had  had,  of  course, 
no  influence  over  the  negotiations,  which  had  been  carried 
on  by  the  States-General.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  that 
the  Orange  party  was  exceedingly  anxious  to  provoke  a 
rupture  between  the  two  Republics.  They  hoped  that  in 
the  presence  of  danger  there  would  be  a  reversion  to  the 
old  system  ^  and  that  the  infant  Prince  would  be  appointed 
Admiral  and  Captain-General  with  Count  William  Frederic 
of  Nassau — him  that  had  led  the  attack  upon  Amsterdam — 
as  his  lieutenant.  Mary  certainly  did  what  she  could  to 
stir  up  strife,  though  it  was  necessarily  by  indirect  means. 
"Every  day  the  Princess  Royal  and  her  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  rode  slowly  past  the  ambassador's  residence 
with  ostentatious  pomp  and  an  imposing  suite,  staring  at  the 
house  from  top  to  bottom,  in  a  manner  to  encourage  the 
rabble,  which  her  procession  gathered  up  in  its  way,  to  commit 
an  insult."^  But  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  this  conduct, 
however  unseemly  and  ill  advised  it  may  have  been,  had  any 
serious  effect  upon  the  action  of  the  English  Parliament. 
War  did  not  break  out  till  the  following  spring,  and  in  the 
interval  the  real  grounds  of  the  quarrel  had  become  apparent. 
Already  before  St.  John  had  left  Holland  a  commercial  treaty 
very  prejudicial  to  English  interests,  had  been  concluded 
between  the  Netherlands  and  Denmark.  In  October  (165 1) 
this  had  been  answered  by  the  famous  Navigation  Act, 
which  aimed  a  death-blow  at  the  Dutch  monopoly  of  the 
carrying   trade.     Whilst,    on    the    one    hand,    an  impartial 

1  Geddes,  Administration  of  John  de  Witt,  vol.  i.,  p.  178. 
3  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  vol.  v.,  p.  63. 
3  Geddes,  p.  173. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  207 

investigation  seems  to  establish  commercial  rivalry  as  the 
true  basis  of  the  quarrel,  on  the  other  it  is  important 
to  notice  that  the  Battle  of  Worcester  (Sept.  165 1)  had 
removed  all  danger  of  Stuart  aggression.  Help  from  the 
United  Provinces  might  possibly  have  turned  the  scale  in 
the  early  part  of  1652,  when  Charles  was  still  at  the  head 
of  an  army;  a  year  later  he  was  an  impotent  and  helpless 
fugitive  and  his  place  of  residence  could  never  have  been 
of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  a  costly  war. 

An  account  of  the  struggle  that  followed,  of  the  rivalry 
between  Blake  and  Tromp,  of  the  three-days'  battle  off 
Beachy  Head,  of  the  gallant  death  of  Tromp  off  the  Texel, 
and  of  the  gradual  exhaustion  of  the  Dutch  in  men  and 
money  and  ships,  can  find  no  place  in  this  essay.  We  are 
concerned  only  with  the  fortunes  of  Mary  of  Orange.  But 
upon  these  the  war  was  not  without  its  influence.  A  revul- 
sion of  feeling,  consequent  on  the  Dutch  reverses,  set  in. 
Riots  became  common.  The  Grand  Pensionary's  life  was 
in  serious  danger.  Their  misfortunes,  men  said,  had  come 
upon  them  because  they  had  no  longer  a  Stadtholder.  The 
clergy  were  foremost  in  the  fray;  even  from  the  pulpits 
they  accused  the  States-General  of  a  desire  to  see  the  Dutch 
navy  beaten  so  as  to  be  reduced  to  make  peace  with  England. 
"  There  is  a  general  expression  and  feeling  that  the  country 
is  betrayed,  as  if  the  prisoners  of  Loevenstein  had  given 
it  up,"*  wrote  Van  Sypesteyn  to  De  Witt.  The  upshot  of 
it  was  that,  in  1653,  Mary  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
her  son  elected  Stadtholder  of  Zealand  and  of  several  of 
the  northern  provinces.  ^ 

Meanwhile  De  Witt,  the  Grand  Pensionary,  who  was 
allied  by  marriage  to  the  Bickers,  had  been  doing  his 
utmost   to   bring   about   a  settlement.     But  the  only  terms 

1  L.  Pontalis,  p.  155. 
3  Whitelocke,  July  1653. 


2o8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

to  which  Cromwell  would  assent,  included  a  guarantee  that 
the  Prince  of  Orange  should  be  excluded  from  power,  and 
were  consequently  very  unpopular.  To  obtain  such  a 
guarantee  from  the  States-General  was  indeed  impossible, 
but  as  the  Protector  was  willing  to  be  content  with  a 
similar  undertaking  from  the  Estates  of  Holland,  De  Witt 
finally  arranged  a  peace  on  this  basis.  A  secret  resolution 
was  passed  by  the  Estates  excluding  the  Prince  of  Orange 
from  all  power,  civil  or  military,  in  their  province,  and 
agreeing  to  vote  against  his  appointment  as  Captain-  or 
Admiral-General  in  the  national  assembly.  ^  In  justice  to 
the  Grand  Pensionary  it  should  be  observed  that  he  made 
every  endeavour  to  secure  a  peace  without  making  the 
required  stipulation,  and  that  he  only  consented  to  its 
delivery  to  Cromwell  when  it  was  certain  that  nothing  less 
would  satisfy  him.  In  no  other  country  would  it  have  been 
possible  for  one  part  of  the  nation  to  conclude  a  peace 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  other ;  but  it  was  the  peculi- 
arity of  the  United  Provinces  that  the  privilege  of  nominating 
ambassadors  often  rested  with  the  provincial  assemblies.  * 
On  this  occasion  two  of  the  ambassadors  had  been  nomin- 
ated by  Holland  and  thus  considered  themselves  directly 
responsible  to  the  Grand  Pensionary  of  that  province. 
Although,  however,  we  are  obliged  to  acknowledge  that 
De  Witt  was  perfectly  right  in  supposing  the  struggle  A\ith 
England  to  be  hopeless,  he  had  undoubtedly  justified  the 
outcry  that  was  raised  by  his  proceedings;  for  these 
amounted  to  nothing  less  than  an  impertinent  assertion  of 
the  supremacy  of  Holland.  It  was  proposed  by  those 
deputies,  who  were  most  devoted  to  the  House  of  Orange, 
that  Cromwell  should  be  openly  defied  and  the  young 
Prince    immediately    appointed    to    the    chief  military   and 

1  L.  Pontalis,  p.  183. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  64,  and  note. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  209 

naval  command.  The  moderate  Orangemen  were  anxious 
to  revoke  the  guarantee,  or  at  any  rate  demand  an  explan- 
ation from  the  overbearing  member  of  the  confederation. 
The  Princesses  for  once  acted  in  concert  and  addressed  a 
strong  remonstrance  to  the  Estate  of  Holland.  But  in 
the  end  it  all  came  to  nothing.  The  Estates,  indeed  drew 
up  a  kind  of  defence  in  the  shape  of  a  report,  and 
the  Grand  Pensionary  was  despatched  to  propitiate  the 
Princesses  and  assure  them  of  the  goodwill  of  his  province. 
But  a  complaint  addressed  directly  to  Cromwell  by  the 
Zealanders  met  with  a  reply  that  brought  the  Republic  to 
its  senses : — If  the  Act  of  Exclusion  were  recalled  the  United 
Provinces  would  provoke  a  resumption  of  hostilities.  ^  Pro- 
bably the  Orange  party  might  have  made  more  capital  out 
of  the  war  than  they  actually  did,  so  strongly  was  the 
current  running  in  their  favour  at  one  moment.  But  they 
lacked  what  their  opponents  possessed — a  strong  leader. 
The  Princesses  were  seldom  at  one;  Mary  remained  true 
to  her  husband's  policy,  Amelia,  on  the  other  hand,  seems 
to  have  inclined  to  a  pacific  arrangement  with  the  Hollanders : 
whilst  Count  William  of  Nassau,  who  about  this  time  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  the  Princess  Dowager,  was  never  able 
to  shake  off  the  suspicion  of  self-interest — he  was  already 
Stadtholder  of  Friesland  and  Groningen — that  clung  to  his 
endeavours  on  behalf  of  his  nephew. 

But  the  Princess  Royal's  attention  was  really  centred 
elsewhere.  In  October  165 1  her  brother  had  landed  in 
Holland,  a  wretched  outcast,  disguised  as  a  sailor  and 
almost  unattended.  Mary  had  gone  in  person  to  his  aid, 
and  with  such  secrecy  that  for  a  time  his  arrival  remained 
unknown.  After  a  short  stay  in  Holland  he  went  on  to 
Paris,   where    his   miniature   court  very  soon  divided  itself 

*  For  an  account  of  the  negotiations  see  L.  Pontalis,  pp.  164 — 190. 

14 


2IO  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

into  two  well-defined  factions.  At  the  head  of  the  one 
were  the  Queen-Mother  and  Lord  Jermyn,  at  the  head  of 
the  other  Hyde  and  Nicholas.  To  these  last  Mary  gave 
her  support,  perhaps  because,  as  a  staunch  Anglican,  she 
was  able  to  appreciate  the  injury  that  might  be  done 
to  her  brother's  prospects  by  her  mother's  aggressive 
Romanism.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  it  mattered  very  little 
what  Charles'  partisans  did  or  did  not  do,  for  never  had 
cause  been  more  hopeless  than  his  was  at  this  time.  Each 
year  the  clouds  were  thickening.  Under  the  iron  hand  of 
the  Protector  the  smouldering  discontent  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland  was  so  vigorously  repressed  that  the  fire  of 
loyalty  seemed  everywhere  extinct.  The  treaty  of  1654 
with  the  United  Provinces  had  contained  a  clause  banish- 
ing the  Stuarts  from  Holland,  *  and  though  this  provision 
was  not  interpreted  too  severely,  Charles  soon  learnt  that 
he  was  no  welcome  visitor  at  the  Hague.  In  1657  the 
hope  of  a  French  invasion  of  England  was  removed  by 
the  secession  of  Mazarin.  That  astute  ecclesiastic  was  far 
too  clever  a  politician  to  encumber  himself  with  principles 
and  saw  no  kind  of  reason  why  he  should  not  ally  himself 
with  a  rebel  government  if  it  suited  his  purpose.  As  the 
treaty  of  Westminster  had  destroyed  the  hopes  of  the 
Stuarts  in  the  Netherlands,  so  that  of  Paris  destroyed  them 
in  France. 

Mary  had  done  what  she  could  for  her  brothers,  but  it 
did  not  amount  to  very  much.  She  had  aided  them  finan- 
cially so  far  as  her  income  would  allow;  further,  many 
thought,  than  she  could  afford  to  do,  consistently  with  the 
interests  of  her  son.  She  had  also  entertained  the  young 
Duke  of  Gloucester  at  the  Hague.  From  time  to  time  she 
accompanied    King    Charles    in    his    expeditions.      It    was 

»  L.  Pontalis^  p.  177. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  211 

during  one  of  these  tours  that  Mary  and  her  two  brothers 
had  an  interview  with  the  famous  ex-queen  of  Sweden, 
Christina,  a  lady  who  would  have  been  entirely  in  her 
element  if  she  had  been  born  a  hundred  years  later  and 
a  French  subject.  As  it  was  she  secured  an  exceptionally 
high  reputation  for  eccentricity,  which  was  not  at  all  un- 
deserved, since  some  little  time  before  she  had  taken  it 
into  her  head  to  drink  King  Charles'  health  in  public  and 
wear  his  portrait  round  her  neck,  and  had  even  gone  so 
far  as  to  send  him  a  valuable  jewel.  ^  It  does  not  appear, 
however,  that  her  affection  for  the  exile  was  greatly 
strengthened  by  the  meeting,  though  she  is  reported  to 
have  declared  that  "  if  she  had  another  crown  to  dispose 
of,  she  would . . .  bestow  it  on  that  poor  good  king  of 
England."^ 

In  the  winter  of  1655  Mary  paid  a  visit  to  Paris,  to 
which  later  events  give  a  certain  importance,  since  it 
was  on  this  occasion  that  the  Duke  of  York  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Anne  Hyde,  who  at  the  time  belonged  to 
Mary's  suite.  In  spite  of  the  negotiations  with  Cromwell, 
the  princess  obtained  an  excellent  reception,  Mazarin  being 
amongst  the  foremost  to  do  her  honour.  After  a  seem- 
ingly interminable  series  of  entertainments  she  was  recalled 
to  Holland  in  November  by  the  news  that  Prince  William 
had  got  small-pox.  By  the  time  she  had  reached  home, 
however,  he  had  recovered.  Not  long  after  she  visited 
her  brother  at  Bruges. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  credit  the  Princess  Royal  with 
a  strenuous  policy  in  the  Netherlands  during  the  years 
between  1654  and  1658.  The  outlook  for  the  two  Houses, 
which  she  had  connected,  became  steadily  gloomier,  and 
the  most  sanguine  of  temperaments  must  have  searched  in 

1  Everett-Green,  p,  214. 

2  Thurloe,  vol.  iv.,  p.  88  (quoted  by  Everett-Green). 


212  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

vain  for  a  rift  among  the  clouds.  But  the  apathy  with 
which  Mary  was  so  often  accused  of  regarding  her  son's 
affairs  had  more  method  in  it  than  at  first  sight  we  are 
inclined  to  allow.  The  ability  of  De  Witt  and  the  tender 
age  of  Prince  William  would  probably  have  constituted 
her  apology  for  inaction.  She  thought — and  under  the 
circumstances  it  is  not  wholly  easy  to  condemn  her  view — 
that  the  true  source  of  strength  for  her  party  was  sitting 
still.  If  energetic  measures  were  to  be  taken,  they  must 
be  taken  with  the  aid  of,  not  in  opposition  to  the  English 
Government.  In  short  she  proposed  to  obtain  his  father's 
dignities  for  her  son  by  restoring  her  brother.  Later 
events  have  vindicated  her  policy  and  may  even  be  said 
to  have  raised  it  to  the  rank  of  statesmanship.  But  it  is 
idle  to  pretend  that  she  was  more  clear-sighted  than  the 
ablest  men  of  her  time,  not  one  of  whom  would  have 
approved  her  doings.  Like  most  women,  she  probably 
allowed  her  decision  to  be  formed  by  her  weaknesses  and 
then  justified  it  afterwards,  to  herself  and  to  others,  by  giving 
it  the  gloss  of  calculation.  She  was  very  fond  of  her 
brother,  she  was  very  anxious  that  he  should  regain  his 
throne  both  for  his  own  sake  and  for  that  of  their  family, 
and,  finally,  and  most  important  of  all,  she  detested  the 
vulgarity,  as  she  thought  it,  of  the  burghers.  Thus  we 
find  De  Thou,  the  accredited  French  ambassador  to  the 
Hague,  warned  that  "  de  son  naturel  et  par  la  nourriture 
entre  les  Anglais,  elle  ne  descend  pas  volontiers  a  des 
demonstrations  de  bonte  et  de  caresses  aux  personnes  de 
I'estat,  croyant  ces  choses  trop  au  dessous  de  sa  condition 
et  se  persuadant  que  les  amis  de  la  maison  d'Orange,  en 
luy  demeurant  fidelles  ne  feront  ce  qu'ils  doivent."  *  It 
is    not    difficult   to  see   how   Mary  persuaded   herself  that 

>  G.  van  Prinsterer,  vol.  v.,  p.  169. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  213 

she  was  doing  her  duty  when  she  was  merely  gratifying 
her  prejudices.  That  the  course  she  took  proved  in  the 
event  to  have  been  right  was  little  else  than  a  piece  of 
undeserved  good-fortune. 

In  striking  contrast  is  the  conduct  of  the  Princess  Dow- 
ager. "Bien  que  la  haine  des  principaux  de  Hollande 
contre  la  maison  d'Orange  et  la  derniere  injure  qu'ils  luy 
out  faicte  luy  deust  donner  une  juste  aversion  contre  les 
estats  de  cette  province,  au  moings  contre  les  chefs  de  ce 
parti,  elles  les  caresse  neanmoings ;  elle  ne  parle  de  raffront 
qu'ils  ont  faict  a  sa  maison  qu'avec  des  termes  mesures  et 
soubs  couleur  de  bonne  politique,  pour  s'accomoder  au  temps, 
elle  se  rend  complaisante  a  ses  messieurs"  . . .  ^  (the  passage 
is  taken  from  the  instruction  to  De  Thou,  written  in  1657.) 
Although  the  Princess  Dowager's  policy  is  here  put  down 
to  avarice,  the  desire  to  preserve  her  scattered  properties, 
and  the  hope  of  a  pension,  we  are  inclined  to  think,  as 
on  a  previous  occasion,  that  Amelia  de  Solms  was  not  moved 
only  by  selfish  motives;  the  surrender  that  she  made 
of  her  grandson's  education  later  on  is  enough  to  show 
that  she  had  more  than  an  interested  affection  for  him. 
And,  if  this  be  granted,  we  may  credit  her  once  more  with 
a  clearer  insight  into  the  politics  of  the  time  than  her  con- 
temporaries. Probably  it  seemed  to  her  that  little  advantage 
could  accrue  to  her  family  from  a  connection  with  a 
defeated  and  exiled  house,  although,  attracted  by  the  idea 
of  a  royal  son-in-law,  she  contemplated  at  one  moment  a 
marriage  between  her  daughter  and  King  Charles,  ^  until  the 
poverty  of  his  prospects  induced  her  to  throw  him  over. 
On  the  continent  it  was  supposed  naturally  enough  that 
Cromwell  was  each  year  establishing  himself  more  firmly 
in    his    Protectorate    and  that  he  would  prove  the  progen- 

^  G.  van  Prinsterer,  p.  171. 
«  Ibid.,  p.  145. 


214  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

itor  of  a  new  dynasty :  whilst  Charles  by  the  disaffection  of 
Mazarin  and  the  Battle  of  the  Dunes  had  lost  all  hopes  of 
foreign  intervention.  Thus,  to  imagine  that  the  Prince  of 
Orange  would  ever  become  Stadtholder  by  his  uncle's  aid 
must  have  appeared  little  better  than  a  fantastic  dream. 
Nor  was  it  likely  that  the  old  alliance  between  the  court  party 
and  Mazarin  would  be  able  to  effect  anything.  Cromwell 
has  often  been  blamed  for  allying  himself  with  France 
instead  of  with  the  decaying  power  of  Spain,  and  so  dis- 
turbing the  European  balance;  but  his  critics  entirely 
forget  that  neither  Mazarin  nor  Louis  XIV.  would  have 
dared  to  interfere  with  the  Netherlands  whilst  Oliver  was 
alive.  ^  Indeed  the  dependence  of  the  lesser  Republic 
upon  the  greater  was  perhaps  the  most  prominent  feature 
of  the  political  situation.  Small  blame  to  the  Princess 
Dowager  "if  she  supposed,"  in  face  of  the  hostility  of 
England,  that  the  only  hope  for  her  grandson  lay  in 
a  gradual  reconcihation  with  the  Hollanders.  For  the 
time,  no  doubt,  such  a  policy  must  have  meant  political 
extinction,  but  when  the  personal  influences  of  Cromwell 
and  De  Witt  were  removed,  there  was  no  insuperable 
reason  why  the  head  of  the  House  of  Orange  should  not 
have  returned  to  power,  no  longer  as  the  foe  of  the  mer- 
cantile interest,  but  as  its  ally  and  nominee.  The  process 
of  assimilation  might  indeed  have  been  long  and  difficult, 
but  could  it  have  been  carried  through,  it  would  have 
established  a  national  party  and  done  more  to  restore 
the  prestige  of  the  United  Provinces  than  all  De  Witt's 
secret  diplomacy.  If  it  be  said  that  the  Princess  Dowager 
too  frequently  allowed  her  private  passions  and  interests 
to  turn  her  aside  from  the  pursuit  of  these  objects,  it 
is   but  just  to  remember  that  her  plans  were  so  hampered 

1  See  Firth,  "Cromwell,"  p.  388. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  215 

by  the  ill-feeling  between  her  and  her  daughter-in-law  that 
they  could  scarcely  have  succeeded,  however  single-hearted 
she  had  been. 

Of  the  constant  hostility  between  the  two  princesses  no 
better  illustration  could  be  found  than  the  quarrel  which 
arose  concerning  the  regency  of  Orange.  In  Nov.  1657, 
Mary  having  now  attained  her  twenty-fifth  year,  the  Court 
of  Orange  declared  her  sole  Governor  of  the  principality 
in  accordance  with  her  husband's  will.  But  the  Governor 
of  the  town.  Count  Dohna,  had  no  intention  of  surrender- 
ing either  his  power  or  his  salary.  He  was,  moreover,  a 
nephew  of  the  Princess  Dowager  and  consequently  hostile 
to  the  Princess  Royal.  Mary,  in  her  distress,  determined  to 
appeal  to  the  French  King,  relying  on  the  influence  of 
her  mother  to  further  her  suit.  She  addressed  a  letter  to 
Mazarin  asking  for  his  aid  and  informing  him  of  the 
approaching  arrival  in  Paris  of  the  President  of  the  Par- 
liament of  Orange  to  set  forth  her  claims,  ^  which  were 
supported  by  the  body  over  which  he  presided.  But  the 
Princess  Dowager  was  not  to  be  outdone,  and  also  wrote 
to  the  Cardinal  claiming  a  share  of  the  Government  for 
herself  as  the  mother,  and  for  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg 
as  the  husband,  of  her  daughter,  the  heiress-apparent  to 
the  principality.  De  Thou,  soon  after,  disclosed  his  view 
of  the  matter  in  a  letter  to  Mazarin : — **  Certainement,  a 
dire  le  vray,  ce  seroit  un  grand  avantage,  pour  le  service 
du  Roy  et  la  seurete  et  repos  de  son  Estat,  et  mesme  pour 
le  bien  du  petit  Prince,  qu'il  n'y  eut  aucunes  fortifications 
a  Orange,  puisqu'elles  ne  luy  (donne  que)  le  tiltre  de  sou- 
verain,  mais,  outre  la  jalousie  que  cela  donne,  I'entretien 
des  garnisons  luy  couste  plus  de  cinquante-mille  livres, 
outre  le  revenu  de  ladite  principaute,  laquelle  despence  va 

1  G.  van  Prinsterer,  p.  181. 


2i6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

seulement  au  profit  d'un  des  Gouverneurs. ..."  *  Ultimately 
De  Thou's  advice  was  taken  and  Prince  William  deprived 
of  his  little  principality.  Under  pretext  of  seeing  his 
cousin  righted,  Louis  ordered  Count  Dohna  to  surrender. 
The  Governor  in  reply  made  a  bold  speech  affirming  his 
eternal  allegiance  to  the  Guardians  of  his  Prince,  but  very 
soon  succumbed  to  a  large  bribe. 

The  affair  caused  an  outcry  in  the  Netherlands, 
but  it  was  not  easy  for  the  States-General  to  take  any 
action  since,  as  the  French  ambassador  pointed  out  to  them, 
they  had  been  guilty  of  exactly  similar  conduct  when 
they  had  seized  Rees,  Emeric,  and  Ravestin.  ^  The  more 
reasonable  section  of  the  public  was  forced  to  admit  that 
the  King  of  France  had  some  justification  for  removing 
this  "stone  of  stumbling"  from  the  midst  of  his  dominions. 
Still  it  was  felt  that  the  national  honour  had  been  wounded 
and  that  Prince  William  had  been  made  to  pay  the  penalty 
of  his  guardians'  squabbles.  Of  course,  each  of  the  parties 
responsible  for  the  loss  accused  the  other.  The  Princess 
Royal  laid  the  blame  on  the  shoulders  of  Count  Dohna; 
the  Princess  Dowager  accused  her  daughter-in-law  of  having 
originated  the  evil  by  calling  in  the  French.  Impartial 
history  would  probably  decide  that  Mary  was  right  in 
her  claims  and  wrong  in  her  method  of  asserting  them. 
Her  attitude  certainly  compares  unfavourably  with  that  of 
her  mother-in-law,  when  we  recall  the  high-spirited  reply 
which  Amelia  returned  to  the  French  envoy  some  months 
later: — "Surquoy  je  vous  diray  que  je  veux  bien  qu'on 
sache  que  les  Princes  d'Orange  ont  tousjours  este  serviteurs 
des  Roys  de  France,  mais  jamais  leurs  subjects,  et  moins 
encore  leurs  esclaves,  et  par  consequent  il  nous  convient 
bien  d'agir  avec  eux  avec  toute  sorte  de  civilite,  mais  pas 

^  G.  van  Prinsterer,  p.  185. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  194. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  217 

avec  des  soumissions  et  souplesses  qui  pourroient  estre 
prejudiciales  et  faire  tort  au  droicts  du  Prince  mon  petit- 
fils."  In  the  eyes  of  the  Dutch,  at  any  rate,  the  chief 
blame  rested  with  the  Princess  Royal,  and  she  incurred  a 
corresponding  amount  of  unpopularity.  Meanwhile  the 
Princess  Dowager  did  what  she  could  to  repair  the  injury 
to  her  grandson  by  assuring  the  States- General  that  such 
treatment  was  only  what  they  must  expect  at  the  hands 
of  the  French,  and  that  the  sooner  they  allied  themselves 
with  the  Hapsburgs  the  better. 

In  reality,  however,  the  amicable  understanding  with 
France  had  answered  very  well,  and  the  prestige  of  the 
United  Provinces  among  the  nations  of  Europe  had  not 
lately  been  so  high  as  it  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1660.  De  Witt  had  obtained  some  credit  for  his  country 
by  intervening,  in  conjunction  with  Cromwell,  to  save  the 
Protestant  subjects  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy ;  he  raised  it  still 
higher  by  an  agreement  in  1659  with  England  and  France 
to  put  an  end  to  the  war  between  Sweden  and  Denmark. 
Moreover,  the  death  of  Oliver  in  1658  had  relieved  him 
of  a  tyrannical  master.  At  home,  however,  his  policy  of 
disintegration,  witness  his  assertion  that  "these  provinces 
are  not  one  republic;  each  province  apart  is  a  sovereign 
republic  and  these  United  Provinces  should  not  be  called 
a  republic  in  the  singular,  but  federated  or  united  republics, 
in  the  plural  number,"  ^  had  created  an  indefinite,  but  none 
the  less  real,  hostility  towards  the  new  constitution.  The 
invaluable  "Instruction  a  M.  de  Thou"  has  only  to  be 
read  in  order  to  see  how  wide  was  the  gulf  between  the 
one  favoured  province  and  its  six  outcast  brethren.  ^  It 
only  needed  an  opportunity  and  a  leader  to  fan  the  sullen 
discontent    into    a    consuming  rebellion.     In  the  beginning 

*  Seeley,  vol.  ii.,  p.  36. 

»  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  p.  173. 


2i8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  1660,  indeed,  De  Witt  seemed  to  have  consolidated  his 
power,  but  before  the  year  was  out  his  ascendency  over 
the  Republic  was  to  receive  a  blow  from  which  it  never 
entirely  recovered.  All  through  this  period  that  we  have 
traversed  the  influences  from  abroad  have  controlled  the 
domestic  politics  of  the  Netherlands.  The  outbreak  of  the 
constitutional  struggle  in  England  promoted  the  resistance 
of  the  burghers  to  their  stadtholders,  just  as  William's  own 
policy  had  been  a  reflection  of  his  father-in-law's;  the  im- 
prisonment of  Conde  by  Mazarin  provoked  the  imprisonment 
of  the  six  members  at  Loevenstein ;  the  triumph  of  Crom- 
well, the  popular  champion  of  England,  created  an  impres- 
sion favourable  to  De  Witt,  the  popular  champion  of  the 
sister-republic;  the  despotism  of  the  Protector  was  the 
signal  for  the  despotism  of  the  Grand  Pensionary.  And 
so  we  find  that  the  restoration  of  the  royal  line  in  England 
was  the  event  that  made  certain  the  restoration  of  the  House 
of  Orange  in  the  United  Provinces. 

The  diplomatists  of  past  centuries  rarely  possessed  any 
excessive  amount  of  self-respect,  but,  as  they  were  skilful 
enough  to  conceal  their  more  discreditable  performances, 
they  have  generally  managed  to  exchange  the  severity 
of  contemporary  criticism  for  the  tolerant,  if  rather  cynical, 
judgments  of  a  public  that  is  prepared  to  forgive  freely  on 
condition  of  being  adequately  amused.  Thus  the  conduct 
of  the  Hollanders  in  hearing  of  the  revulsion  of  feeling  in 
England  is  of  unusual  interest.  Their  sycophancy  was  so 
obvious  and  outspoken  that  we  are  tempted  to  wonder  whether 
they  were  conscious  of  it.  "  Whoever  is  the  king  of  Eng- 
land," they  said,  when  they  learnt  that  Charles  II.  was  to 
be  restored,  *'  be  it  the  devil  himself,  we  must  be  friends 
with  him."  Hence  from  the  moment  when  Monk  declared 
for   a  restoration    of  the  monarchy,  the  poor  outcast,  who 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  219 

had   been    forbidden    till    then    to    enter   the   territories  of 
Holland,    was  feasted,  cheered  and  congratulated  until  the 
roots  of  the  divinity  that  hedges  a  king  had  been  entirely 
laid  bare. 

It  would  be  inexpressibly  wearisome  to  narrate  all  the 
doings  of  their  High  Mightinesses  during  the  few  weeks 
that  the  new  monarch  deigned  to  spend  among  them  before 
he  entered  into  his  kingdom.  But  it  is  natural  to  recall 
how  on  one  occasion  De  Witt,  who  was  no  lover  of  incon- 
sistency, undertook  to  explain  away  the  previous  behaviour 
of  himself  and  his  party  towards  their  distinguished  visitor. 
**We  must  even  admit,"  he  said,  "that  for  some  years 
past  interest  of  state  has  done  violence  to  our  natural  in- 
clinations, since  it  was  not  in  your  august  person  that  we 
found  the  representative  of  that  country,  and  thus  your 
Majesty  may  judge  with  what  affection  and  zeal  we  shall 
in  future  cherish  and  maintain  union  and  close  correspon- 
dence between  your  kingdom  and  this  republic ;  since,  now 
that  we  see  your  Majesty  restored,  our  natural  inclination 
and  the  interests  of  the  state  are  united."  We  can  imagine 
Charles  II.  replying  with  that  easy  courtesy,  which  was 
almost  the  only  characteristic  that  he  possessed  in  common 
with  Charles  I. : — "  I  take  into  consideration  that  you  were 
forced  to  treat  with  people  who,  having  revolted  against 
my  father,  were  equally  persistent  against  me ;  but  now  you 
will  have  to  do  with  men  of  honour."  ^  Before  ten  years 
were  out  he  had  perfected  the  comedy  by  concluding  the 
Treaty  of  Dover  with  Louis  XIV.  for  a  joint  attack  upon 
the  United  Provinces. 

Mary  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  this  revulsion 
of  feeling  in  favour  of  her  family.  When  her  brother  took 
leave    of  the   Estates   of  Holland  he  commended  to  them 

1  L.  Pontadis,  p.  248. 


220  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

especially  his  sister  and  his  nephew,  and  begged  that  their 
interests  should  not  be  neglected.  ^  De  Witt  was  somewhat 
embarrassed,  but  replied  in  vague  language  to  the  effect 
that  a  Prince  of  Orange,  who  was  also  a  nephew  of  the 
King  of  England,  would  always  be  the  object  of  their 
solicitude.  In  point  of  fact,  Charles  rather  overacted  his 
part,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next  year  managed  to  alienate 
some  of  the  towns  who  had  hitherto  supported  the  Orange 
interest,^  but  were  fearful  that  the  country  would  become 
a  dependency  of  England  (as  was  only  too  likely).  But  the 
immediate  effect  of  the  English  restoration  was  to  procure 
for  Prince  William  a  good  deal  of  public  attention  and 
some  material  advantage.  At  Mary's  instigation  and  under 
pressure  from  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York,  the  Hol- 
landers undertook  the  supervision  of  his  education,  removed 
the  legal  barrier  to  his  appointment  as  Stadtholder  in  Hol- 
land, and  withdrew  their  opposition  to  his  appointment  as 
Captain-  and  Admiral-General  of  the  forces  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces. So  soon  as  she  had  seen  these  changes  accomplished 
Mary  started  to  visit  her  brother's  court. 

It  must  have  seemed  to  her  as  she  left  the  country  of 
her  adoption  for  that  of  her  birth,  that  the  waves  of  dis- 
tress and  disaster  had  at  length  spent  their  force.  Her 
family  was  once  more  installed  in  its  ancestral  possessions 
and  her  brother  had  regained  a  kingdom,  infinitely  more 
powerful  than  that  which  her  father  had  lost.  She  had 
already  been  able  to  measure  the  effect  of  the  returning 
fortunes  of  the  Stuarts  on  the  United  Provinces.  The  un- 
popularity that  had  dogged  her  movements  ever  since  her 
husband's  ill-fated  attempt  on  Amsterdam  was  now  at  any 
rate  carefully  concealed,  if  it  was  not  entirely  dispelled. 
Moreover,    as    the  sister  of  the  King  of  England,  she  was 

1  L.  Pontalis,  p.  249. 

*  G.  van  Prinsterer,  p.  249. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  221 

likely  to  be  entrusted  with  the  more  delicate  negotiations 
between  the  sea  Powers.  Nor  need  her  expectations  end  here. 
The  Estates  had  been  persuaded  to  remove  the  legal  barrier 
to  the  revival  of  the  Stadtholderate,  and  her  son,  a  clever 
if  eccentric  child,  must  soon  be  fitted  to  enter  upon  the 
traditional  career  of  his  family.  Everywhere  the  clouds 
seemed  to  be  breaking  away  with  the  promise  of  a  brighter 
future  that  should  be  some  compensation  for  the  past. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  Three  months  after  Mary  set 
foot  in  England,  that  hideous  disease,  which  was  rightly 
named  the  foe  of  the  House  of  Orange,  laid  its  hand 
upon  her.  It  is  possible  that  she  might  have  recovered, 
had  she  been  attended  by  any  but  the  court  physicians. 
As  it  was,  the  doctors,  who  had  been  held  responsible  for 
the  death  of  the  little  Duke  of  Gloucester  because  they 
had  not  bled  him  sufficiently,  did  their  utmost  to  atone 
for  their  misconduct  by  bleeding  his  sister  so  liberally  that 
she  was  very  soon  incapable  of  fighting  against  her  illness. 
She  maintained,  however,  a  perfect  calm  in  the  presence 
of  death,  and  after  making  a  will  in  which  she  commended 
her  son  and  her  son's  interests  to  the  care  of  her  relations, 
she  passed  quietly  away,  four  days  after  the  small-pox  had 
seized  her.  "  I  could  not  but  admire,"  said  the  young  Lord 
Chesterfield,  who  was  present  when  she  died,  "her  uncon- 
cernedness,  constancy  of  mind  and  resolution,  which  well 
became  the   grandchild  of  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France."  ^ 

It  only  remains  to  attempt  to  estimate  Mary's  character 
and  work — to  attempt,  for  the  task  is  one  of  extreme 
difficulty  since  she  was  but  thirty  years  old  at  the  time 
of  her  death.  How  are  we  to  measure  fairly  the  value  of 
a  life  that  for  all  practical  purposes  lasted  only  ten  years  ? 

*  Chesterfield  Memoirs,  p.  20. 


222  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

How  can  we  possibly  determine  what  it  might  have  been 
by  what  it  was?  Thirty  or  forty  years  of  active  service, 
however  uneventful  they  may  be,  give  us  at  least  some- 
thing to  lay  hold  of.  Some  principles,  good  or  bad  as 
the  case  may  be,  must  in  that  time  have  hardened  into 
practice;  and  we  feel  justified  in  inferring  that  only  very 
peculiar  circumstances  could  avail  to  destroy  them,  and 
that  even  then  the  destruction  could  not  be  complete. 
But  a  decade  gives  us  nothing  safe  on  which  to  base 
a  judgment.  In  such  cases  it  is  eminently  true  that  "time 
and  circumstance  and  opportunity  paint  with  heedless  hands 
and  garish  colours  on  the  canvass  of  a  man's  life;  so  that 
the  result  is  less  frequently  a  finished  picture  than  a  palette 
of  squeezed  tints."  ^  Hence  in  dealing  with  Mary  it  is 
important  to  remember  that  we  are  looking  rather  for 
promise  than  tor  performance. 

This  essay  has  been  so  generally  confined  to  an  attempt 
to  present  the  Princess  Royal  in  relation  to  the  history  of 
her  times  that  very  little  has  been  said  of  her  as  a  woman. 
We  shall  not  endeavour  at  this  point  to  supply  the  deficiency 
now,  for  those  who  desire  it  will  find  a  plenteous  crop  of 
gossip  and  anecdote  ready  to  hand  in  the  pages  of  Mrs. 
Everett-Green.  But  in  so  far  as  this  aspect  of  Mary  lends 
colour  to  her  external  surroundings  we  cannot  afford  to 
neglect  it  wholly. 

The  licentious  age  in  which  Mary  lived  coupled  her 
name  after  her  husband's  death,  with  more  than  one 
lover.  Grammont  distinctly,  Burnet  darkly,  afifirmed  the 
existence  of  scandals,  which  it  can  serve  no  good  purpose 
to  revive.  But  the  evidence  in  our  opinion  is  insufficient 
to  convict  Mary  even  of  indiscretion.  She  herself  indignantly 
denied  the  allegations  of  her  enemies,  and  so  soon  as  she 

1  Lord  Rosebery,  "Pitt,"  p.  lo. 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  223 

learnt  the  current  tale,  acted  in  a  manner  to  which  no-one 
could  take  exception. 

To  her  religion  and  to  religious  observances  Mary  remained 
true  to  the  end.  She  was  a  staunch  AngUcan  more  probably 
by  instinct  than  by  conviction.  But,  anyhow,  she  would 
have  been  faithful  to  the  religious  beliefs  that  had  been 
held  by  her  father,  and  for  which,  in  some  sense,  he  had 
died.  No  efforts  on  the  part  of  her  mother— and  the  queen 
spared  none — availed  to  shake  her  untutored  prejudice 
against  Rome.  In  her  manner  Mary  curiously  resembled 
her  son.  Like  him  she  knew  how  to  elicit  an  affectionate 
attachment  from  her  attendants,  Hke  him,  too,  she  maintained 
in  general  a  reserve,  ^  that  was  not  perhaps  wholly  dis- 
sociated from  pride.  But,  if  we  must  allow  that  she  dis- 
charged her  social  duties  inefficiently,  it  is  at  least  fair  to 
remember  that  nothing  more  incongruous  could  have  been 
devised  than  that  the  daughter  of  Charles  I.  and  Henrietta 
Maria  should  preside  over  the  Dutch  bourgeosie.  Mary  has 
been  rather  foolishly  blamed  for  allowing  her  chief  adherents 
to  gain  an  influence  over  her  counsels.  Even  if  we  admit  the 
charge,  we  may  well  inquire  what  else  she  should  have  done. 
For  she  was  little  more  than  a  girl  at  the  time  of  her 
husband's  death,  not  fully  cognisant  of  the  ways  of  the  world 
and  entirely  devoid  of  any  practical  knowledge.  Is  it 
reasonable  to  blame  her  for  taking  the  advice  of  Heenvliet 
and  Lady  Stanhope,  the  guardian  and  governess  her  father 
had  chosen  for  her,  and  of  Louis  of  Nassau,  one  of  the 
staunchest  of  William's  following;  more  especially  when  it 
has  yet  to  be  shown  that  the  advice  was  bad? 

Mary  was,  perhaps,  the  best  of  the  children  of  Charles  I. 
who  lived  to  grow  up;  or  rather  we  may  say  she  showed 
the    greatest    promise.     She    does   not  seem  to  have  been 

1  "Her  speech  precious  because  not  frequent."  (Manley.) 


224  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

troubled  either  by  the  indolent  cynicism  of  her  eldest  brother 
or  the  bigotry  of  her  second;  and  she  certainly  escaped 
the  love  of  intrigue  that  was  so  prominent  in  Henrietta. 
It  is  the  fashion  to  think  of  the  Stuarts  as  representing  a 
particular  type  of  character.  But  the  fact  is,  if  we  examine 
the  matter,  that  they  are  curiously  unlike  each  other,  and 
that  it  is  only  their  almost  invariable  ill-luck  which  has 
caused  them  to  be  classed  together.  At  the  same  time 
the  popular  idea  has  a  certain  truth,  for  all  their  misfor- 
tunes sprang  from  the  one  moral  feature  that  they  had  in 
common — a  kind  of  dogged  persistence  in  pursuing  the 
object  that  had  captured  their  fancy,  which  sometimes 
merited  the  name  of  perseverance,  but  more  often  of  obstin- 
acy. This  characteristic  is  apparent  in  the  Princess  of 
Orange  no  less  than  in  her  relatives,  and  it  stood  her  in 
good  stead.  For  the  marvel  really  is  that  she  held  her 
ground  so  well,  not  that  she  failed  to  adopt  more  energe- 
tic measures  to  improve  it.  A  woman  who,  before  she  has 
reached  the  age  of  twenty,  is  deprived  under  exceptionally 
cruel  circumstances  of  her  father  and  her  husband  to  both 
of  whom  she  is  devotedly  attached,  and  who  is  left  to 
combat  a  hostile  party  in  the  state  in  the  interests  of  her 
infant  child  whilst  her  supporters  are  weakened  by  factious 
divisions,  must  indeed  have  a  resolute  hand  and  a  stout 
heart  if  she  emerges  from  the  ordeal  with  no  loss  of  pres- 
tige. We  cannot,  of  course,  claim  that  Mary  should  be 
ranked  with  Blanche  of  Castille  or  Anne  of  Beaujeu.  She 
probably  did  not  possess  their  abilities,  she  certainly  had 
not  their  opportunities.  But,  though  in  the  main  her  policy 
was,  and,  broadly-speaking,  was  of  necessity,  a  policy  of 
inactivity,  of  holding-on,  yet,  when  the  fortune  of  war  had 
turned,  she  showed  herself  capable  of  advancing  her  out- 
posts. It  was  something  to  have  obtained  from  the  Estates 
of  Holland   a  withdrawal  of  the  constitutional  difficulty  to 


MARY,  PRINCESS  OF  ORANGE  225 

her  son's  appointment  as  Stadtholder,  and  to  have  induced 
them  at  the  same  time  to  acknowledge  their  interest  in  his 
bringing  up.  To  this  extent  Mary  had  secured  her  son's 
position  before  she  set  sail  for  England ;  and  her  achievement 
made  a  fitting  crown  to  the  ten  years  of  courageous  and 
unrecompensed  resolution  that  had  preceded  it. 

For  Englishmen  the  main  interest  in  Mary  of  Orange 
must  lie  in  the  fact  that  she  was  the  mother  of  William  III. 
We  are,  perhaps,  too  much  inclined  to  think  of  the  Whig 
Deliverer  as  an  alien.  He  was,  no  doubt,  rather  a  Dutch- 
man than  an  Englishman,  and  he  never  pretended  that  the 
glades  of  Hampton  Court  or  Windsor  had  ousted  "  the  prim 
gardens  of  Loo  "  from  their  place  in  his  heart.  But  it  may 
be  that  the  elements  of  his  strange  character  were  not  so 
entirely  supplied  by  the  House  of  Orange-Nassau.  The  cold 
reserve  blossoming  beneath  the  sunshine  of  friendship  into 
a  vigorous  goodwill,  the  patience  that  waited  to  pluck  the 
fruit  till  it  was  fully  ripe,  the  inability  to  catch  the  popular 
affection,  the  incapacity  to  understand  the  meaning  of  patriot- 
ism, the  tendency  to  look  upon  a  nation  rather  as  an  in- 
strument than  as  an  agent — these  things  are  characteristic 
rather  of  the  Princess  Royal  than  of  her  husband. 

It  would  be  idle  to  pursue  the  subject  further.  Mary's 
personal  qualities,  like  her  political  intelligence,  were  never 
fully  developed.  This  essay  has  endeavoured  to  show  the 
promise  of  the  bud,  but  has  only  attempted  to  guess 
at  the  shape  and  colouring  of  the  flower.  If  Mary  is 
chiefly  memorable  as  the  link  that  connected  such  astonish- 
ingly different  characters  as  Charles  I.  and  William  III., 
her  story  is  by  no  means  without  a  pathos  of  its  own, 
for  it  is  the  story  of  a  brave  woman  struggling  against 
tremendous  difficulties — sometimes  indeed  with  hesitating 
steps,  but  never  with  uncertain  resolve — and  dying  just  in 
the  moment  of  success. 

15 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS 


DAUGHTER   OF  CHARLES  I. 


HE^^RIETTA     IN     CHILDHOOD. 


IV 

HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS,  DAUGHTER  OF  CHARLES  I. 

Everyone  who  has  read  Bossuet's  funeral  oration  upon 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria  of  England  will  remember  how  the 
preacher  paused  to  remind  his  audience  of  the  strange 
welcome  which  her  youngest  daughter  had  met  with  at  the 
hands  of  an  unchivalrous  people.  The  story  to  which  he 
alluded  was  indeed  remarkable.  No  hour  could  have  been 
less  auspicious  for  the  birth  of  an  English  princess  than 
that  at  which  Henrietta  was  born.  The  Civil  War  was  at 
its  height.  Fortune,  which  had  hitherto  seemed  disposed 
to  favour  the  Royalist  cause,  was  now  turning  against  it, 
and  whilst  the  spirits  of  the  Parliament-men  rose,  those  of 
their  antagonists  were  sinking  fast.  In  the  North,  between 
the  Scots  and  the  Fairfaxes  the  army  of  Newcastle  maintain- 
ed a  precarious  existence.  In  the  South,  an  unexpected 
disaster  had  frustrated  the  well-laid  schemes  of  the  Royalist 
generals.  They  had  contrived  by  a  dexterous  manoeuvre 
to  cut  off  Waller  from  London  and  to  throw  open  the  way 
into  Sussex  and  Kent;  Manchester  and  Essex  must  hasten 
to  the  rescue,  and*  Rupert  would  then  be  free  to  extricate 
the  army  of  Newcastle  from  its  perilous  situation.  But  the 
rashness  of  an  unruly  cavalier  and  the  skill  of  the  Par- 
liamentary commander  shattered  these  fair  hopes  at  the 
very  moment  when  they  seemed  on  the  point  of  fulfilment. 
Attacking  Waller  at  Cheriton,  the  King's  forces  were  deci- 


230  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

sively  repulsed.  In  the  general  panic  which  ensued  it  was 
decided  that  the  Queen,  being  near  the  time  of  her  delivery, 
should  leave  Oxford  without  delay.  Various  towns  were 
talked  of  as  fit  places  of  refuge — Chester,  whence  she  might 
cross  over  to  Ireland,  Bristol,  whence  she  might  escape  to 
France — but  the  place  which  the  King  ultimately  selected 
was  Exeter.  There,  on  June  i6,  1644,  Henrietta  was  born. 
No  sooner  had  the  event  taken  place  than  tidings  were 
received  that  a  hostile  army  was  advancing  against  the 
city,  and  it  was  realised  that,  in  spite  of  the  vigorous 
preparations  made  by  the  townsmen  for  defence,  the  Queen's 
position  was  full  of  danger.  She  accordingly  applied  to 
the  Parliamentary  commander  for  a  safe-conduct  to  Bath, 
but  her  request  was  insolently  refused ;  and  within  a  fort- 
night of  the  birth  of  her  child  the  danger  of  investment 
had  become  so  imminent  that  she  was  compelled  to  resolve 
upon  flight.  Writing  to  the  King  [June  29]  that  she  was 
determined  ''to  risk  this  miserable  life  of  mine,  a  thing 
worthless  enough  in  itself,  saving  in  so  far  as  it  is  precious 
to  you,"  she  rose  from  the  sick-bed  where  she  had  lain  ill 
almost  to  the  point  of  paralysis,  and  escaped  in  disguise 
from  the  city.  The  expression  which  she  had  employed  in 
her  letter  to  Charles  did  not  exaggerate  the  danger  which 
the  undertaking  involved,  but  fortune  abetted  the  fugitive, 
and  she  passed  unscathed  through  perils  by  land  and  by 
sea  to  the  shores  of  her  native  country. 

Scarcely  had  she  departed  when  Charles  reached  Exeter. 
The  infant  daughter  whom  he  now  beheld  for  the  first  time, 
and  in  whom  he  had  been  encouraged  to  look  for  ''the 
youngest  and  .  .  .  the  prettiest  of  his  children,"  he  greeted 
with  emotion  as  the  parting  pledge  and  souvenir  of  the 
Queen  whom  he  had  come  to  rescue.  All  that  his  affection 
could  suggest  was  done  for  the  young  Princess  before  he 
retired  from  the  West.    By  his  orders  she  had  already  been 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  231 

baptised  ^  in  the  Cathedral  according  to  the  Anglican  rite,  and 
her  household  was  now  augmented  by  the  appointment  of  an 
Anglican  chaplain.  Her  temporal  wants  having  been  also 
provided  for,  she  was  confided  to  the  care  of  Sir  John 
Berkeley,  who  held  the  city  for  the  King,  and  of  Lady 
Dalkeith,  her  capable  and  trusty  governess.  Save  for  an 
abortive  attempt  to  appropriate  her  revenues  to  military 
purposes,  a  year  or  more  passed  without  incident,  but  in 
the  autumn  of  1645  Exeter  was  once  more  besieged.  On 
this  occasion,  in  spite  of  a  determined  resistance,  the 
town  was  forced  to  capitulate  [April,  1646] ;  but  its  staunch 
governor  would  not  hear  of  surrender,  till  it  had  been  ex- 
pressly stipulated  that,  pending  the  announcement  of  the 
King's  pleasure,  the  Princess  should  be  free  to  reside 
wheresoever  her  guardian  might  please.  The  clause,  how- 
ever, was  not  observed  with  that  scrupulous  good  faith 
upon  which  the  party  who  had  guaranteed  it  were  wont  to 
pride  themselves.  Henrietta  was  removed  to  Oatlands,  and 
her  departure  thence  was  forbidden.  Nor  was  this  all,  for 
although  the  funds  assigned  for  her  maintenance  were  no 
longer  available,  both  generals  and  Parliament  ignored  the 
claims  made  on  her  behalf.  At  length  a  demand  more  urgent 
than  those  that  had  gone  before  elicited  a  response,  but 
not  such  as  its  author.  Lady  Dalkeith,  had  desired  or  could 
contemplate  with  equanimity.  It  was  ordered  by  the  Com- 
mons that  the  Princess's  retinue  should  be  dismissed,  that 
her  person  should  be  removed  to  St.  James's  Palace,  where 
her  brother  and  sister  were  already  detained,  and  that 
provision  should  be  made  for  her  maintenance  by  a  Com- 
mittee authorised  for  the  purpose.     In  accordance  with  the 


^  The  register  calls  her  "Henrietta"  simply;  the  name  "Anne"  was  sub- 
sequently assumed  by  way  of  compliment  to  the  Queen  Regent  of  France. 
Both  names  occur  in  the  signature  of  an  autograph  letter  to  Cardinal  de 
Retz  dated  2  October  [1669]. 


232  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

King's  injunctions  that  she  was  to  remain  with  her  charge 
at  all  hazards,  Lady  Dalkeith  applied  to  the  Speakers  of 
both  Houses  for  permission  to  accompany  the  Princess. 
Both  applications  proved  unsuccessful,  but  the  applicant  was 
not  a  woman  to  be  thus  easily  thwarted.  Possessed  of 
the  courage  and  resource  which  the  undertaking  required, 
and  undaunted  by  its  perilous  character,  she  resolved  to 
flee  with  her  charge  to  the  Queen  in  Paris.  When  once 
the  resolution  had  been  made,  no  time  was  lost.  Patched 
and  tattered  garments  were  substituted  for  the  apparel 
which  Henrietta  ordinarily  wore,  and  the  name  "Pierre" 
was  given  her  as  resembling  more  nearly  than  any  other 
her  own  lisping  version  of  the  title  "  Princess  ".  Donning  a 
ragged  gown  and  stuffing  it  with  scraps  of  linen  to  impart 
an  appearance  of  deformity  to  her  tall  and  elegant  figure. 
Lady  Dalkeith  hoped  to  pass  disguised  as  a  valet's  wife, 
the  role  of  husband  being  assigned  to  a  French  serving-man 
who,  on  being  admitted  to  the  secret,  had  generously  prof- 
fered his  escort.  Suddenly,  on  July  25  [1646],  it  was  dis- 
covered at  Oatlands  that  pupil  and  governess  had  disappeared. 
By  the  fugitives'  desire  three  days  were  allowed  to  elapse 
before  the  fact  was  revealed  to  the  Parliament;  but  the 
precaution  seems  to  have  been  superfluous,  for  when  the 
news  came  it  was  received  with  indifference,  and  no  orders 
were  given  for  pursuit. 

Meanwhile,  on  foot,  and  with  the  infant  in  their  arms,  the 
confederates  had  been  hastening  towards  the  coast.  Reaching 
Dover  without  obstacle,  they  crossed  the  Channel  in  the 
ordinary  packet,  and  landed  safely  at  Calais.  No  longer 
apprehensive  of  molestation  or  detention,  they  then  dis- 
carded the  disguise  for  which  there  was  no  further  neces- 
sity; and  it  is  said  that  Henrietta,  who  had  shown  an 
infantile  scorn  of  all  precautions,  hailed  the  re-appearance 
of  her   own   costly    frocks  with  every  mark  of  satisfaction. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  233 

Nor  had  she  any  further  occasion  for  complaint,  for,  intelli- 
gence of  their  arrival  being  despatched  to  the  English  Queen 
in  Paris,  carriages  and  servants  were  forthwith  provided, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  journey  was  accompHshed  under 
the  most  favourable  conditions. 

The  joy  of  the  Queen  at  recovering  the  child  whom  she 
regarded  as  her  "  enfant  de  benediction  "  knew  no  bounds.  In 
the  first  ecstasy  of  her  delight  she  vowed  that  the  Princess 
should  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  would  not  rest 
content  till  she  had  expressed  her  gratitude  in  this  some- 
what singular  manner.  It  was  subsequently  asserted  that 
the  impolitic  measure  had  received  the  sanction  of  Charles  I., 
but  the  assertion  must  be  regarded  with  suspicion.  Cyprien 
de  Gamache,  who  could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  such 
a  fact  and  would  have  been  the  last  to  suppress  it,  has 
left  his  opinion  upon  record  that  the  King  "would  not 
have  consented  to  her  being  a  Catholic " ;  and  his  opinion 
would  seem  to  be  borne  out  by  the  proof  of  loyalty 
to  his  Church  which  Charles  had  given  in  the  matter  of 
her  baptism.  But  whatever  her  husband's  views  may  have 
been,  there  were  many  around  the  daughter  of  Henry  of 
Navarre  who  warmly  applauded  her  resolution,  whilst  the 
greatest  of  them  all  solemnly  declared  that  Providence  had 
designed  the  English  rebellion  for  the  express  purpose  of 
ensuring  the  conversion  of  the  young  Princess. 

But  whilst  the  Queen  was  still  exulting  over  Henrietta's 
unlooked-for  escape,  a  grim  tragedy  was  being  enacted  in 
England.  There  the  drama  which  she  had  painfully  followed 
was  drawing  to  its  close  with  the  captivity  and  execution 
of  the  King.  For  so  terrible  an  end  she  was  wholly  un- 
prepared, and,  had  her  worst  fears  been  compared  with  the 
reality,  the  gloomy  suspense  in  which  she  awaited  the  issue 
might  have  passed  for  buoyant  optimism.  The  truth,  when 
revealed  to  her,  was  stunning,  and  made  her  callous  to  the 


234  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

dangers  and  difficulties  in  which  she  herself  was  becoming 
involved.  Yet  her  situation  was  one  which  might  in  other 
moods  have  caused  her  no  slight  anxiety.  No  sooner  had 
the  Fronde  commenced  than  Paris  became  the  arena  of 
contending  factions,  leaving  the  hapless  Queen  the  tenant 
of  a  deserted  palace,  menaced  by  the  passions  of  a  turbu- 
lent populace,  and  well-nigh  destitute  of  the  very  means 
of  subsistence.  Awaking  to  a  sense  of  her  lonely  and 
precarious  position,  she  pleaded  for  the  company  of  Charles 
II.  who  had  taken  refuge  with  his  sister  in  Holland; 
and  the  exile  hastened  to  Paris  in  obedience  to  her  sum- 
mons. Nevertheless  she  was  not  to  enjoy  his  society  for 
long,  for  as  soon  as  her  safety  was  assured,  the  zeal  of  his 
adherents  lured  him  from  his  fiHal  duties,  and  he  left  her 
to  make  a  wild  bid  for  his  crown. 

In  spite  of  the  anxiety  with  which  she  followed  her  son's 
desperate  fortunes,  Queen  Henrietta  paid  the  most  scrupu- 
lous attention  to  the  education  of  her  little  daughter.  No 
better  occupation  could  have  been  devised  for  the  unhappy 
lady  who  had  sustained  the  loss  of  husband  and  of  throne, 
and  it  formed  for  a  while  the  main  interest  of  her  life. 
If  she  paused  at  the  outset  of  her  task  to  pass  in  review 
the  events  of  Henrietta's  childhood,  the  dismal  retrospect 
may  have  inspired  her  with  some  misgiving.  Yet  there 
was  one  encouraging  feature,  and  she  may  have  hoped  that 
at  all  events  in  so  far  as  the  moral  discipline  of  the  young 
Princess  was  concerned,  the  uses  of  adversity  had  produced 
their  proverbially  sweet  results.  The  friend  and  biographer 
of  Henrietta  observed  that  the  complete  seclusion  in  which 
she  lived  enabled  her  to  acquire  the  virtues  which  are  fostered 
by  the  conditions  of  private  Hfe ;  nor  would  it  have  been 
amiss  to  add  that  she  reaped  the  converse  benefit  of  immunity 
from  the  peculiar  temptations  which  assail  the  occupants  of  a 
palace.    The  position  of  a  royal  family  exempts  its  members 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  235 

from  many  a  petty  defect,  at  least  from  such  as  spring  from 
that  craving  for  social  advancement  which  forms  the  igno- 
ble preoccupation  of  many  minds;  but  education  on  the 
steps  of  a  throne  is  not  invariably  wholesome,  nor  has 
every  princess  experienced  the  good  fortune  which  Hen- 
rietta enjoyed  of  being  nurtured  in  a  moral  atmosphere 
of  which  fortitude,  humility,  and  submission  were  the 
dominant  elements.  Her  time  was  for  the  most  part  spent 
in  the  convent  of  Chaillot,  where  her  mother  loved  to 
dwell.  In  the  seclusion  of  this  retreat  life  threatened  to 
be  a  somewhat  uninteresting  matter  to  a  young  and 
spirited  child.  Visitors  to  the  convent  were  surprised  at 
the  severe  simplicity  of  her  dress  and  habits,  but  it  was 
only  those  who  came  there  on  the  festivals  of  the  Church 
who  saw  how  complete  was  the  system  of  moral  and  phy- 
sical discipline  which  the  Queen  had  prescribed  for  her. 
On  those  occasions  the  nuns  were  placed  in  a  novel  and 
perhaps  uncomfortable  position,  for  when  they  sat  at  table, 
they  were  served  by  the  little  Princess.  Such  exceptional 
facilities  for  acquiring  the  virtue  of  humility  might  not 
commend  themselves  to  every  royal  neophyte;  but  Hen- 
rietta performed  her  strange  duties  with  a  manifest  pleasure 
which  endeared  her  to  all  beholders  and  filled  Cyprien 
de  Gamache,  her  preceptor,  with  unbounded  delight.  As 
for  her  amusements,  they  were  of  a  very  mild  order.  In 
the  circumstances  in  which  she  was  placed  Queen  Hen- 
rietta naturally  shrank  from  the  gaiety  and  pleasures  of  the 
French  Court,  and  she  disliked  them  as  well  on  her  daugh- 
ter's account  as  on  her  own,  for  she  was  convinced  that 
they  would  exercise  a  pernicious  influence  on  the  health 
and  imagination  of  a  girl.  Others,  however,  who  were 
familiar  with  the  young  recluse,  looked  askance  upon  her 
mode  of  life,  and  set  themselves  to  undermine  the  resolu- 
tion   which    Henrietta    Maria  had  formed.     After  the  most 


236  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

strenuous  endeavours  they  at  length  succeeded.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1654,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  the  Prince 
de  Conti,  Henrietta  was  permitted  to  appear  at  Court. 
Though  not  yet  ten  years  old,  her  winning  manners  at- 
tracted general  notice,  and  on  again  appearing  in  a  royal 
ballet  a  few  months  later  she  acquitted  herself  so  creditably 
that  she  heightened  the  favourable  impression  which  she 
had  already  made. 

Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  these  events,  she  had  been 
striving  to  carry  out  her  mother's  wishes  and  to  resume 
her  old  life  of  solitude  and  study.  To  do  so  would  in 
any  case  have  been  difficult,  but  it  was  made  impossible 
by  the  influence  of  the  Queen  Regent  of  France.  Anne 
of  Austria  was  amongst  the  warmest  of  Henrietta's  admirers, 
and  she  now  gave  a  signal  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  her 
regard.  The  time  had  come  when  she  must  choose  a 
bride  for  her  young  son,  the  King,  and  she  now  told  her 
sister-in-law  that  Henrietta  was  the  princess  whom  she 
would  most  willingly  select  for  the  great  place  which  was 
about  to  be  filled.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  sur- 
prising or  more  acceptable  to  the  exiled  Queen.  However 
sincere  her  former  objections  may  have  been,  she  speedily 
withdrew  her  opposition  to  the  appearance  of  her  daughter 
at  the  diversions  of  the  Court,  and  it  was  with  her  entire 
approval  that  the  Regent  determined  to  give  a  ball  in 
honour  of  the  EngHsh  Princess  [1655].  Much  was  hoped 
of  the  occasion;  what  came  of  it  was  worse  than  nothing. 
Louis,  whose  sense  of  duty  should  have  compelled  him  to 
open  the  dance  with  his  little  cousin,  even  if  his  inclina- 
tion did  not  prompt  him  to  do  so,  completely  ignored  her 
existence,  and  prepared  to  lead  out  a  lady  who  had  suc- 
ceeded for  the  nonce  in  firing  his  young  imagination.  His 
mother  instantly  intervened,  but  Henrietta  Maria  judged 
that  his  wrath  was  more  to  be  feared  than  his  neglect,  and 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  237 

hastened  to  assert — with  a  diplomatic  sacrifice  of  the  truth — 
that  her  daughter  had  injured  her  foot  and  was  quite 
unable  to  dance.  To  this  the  Regent  angrily  replied  that 
the  King  should  either  dance  with  the  Princess  or  should 
not  dance  at  all.  The  King,  however,  was  intractable ;  and 
when  she  remonstrated  with  him  upon  his  discourteous  con- 
duct and  revealed  her  design,  he  scornfully  disposed  of  all 
that  could  be  urged  in  Henrietta's  favour  by  emphatically 
declaring  that  he  disliked  little  girls.  His  aversion  to  the 
marriage,  ominous  enough  in  itself,  was  the  more  formidable 
on  account  of  the  attitude  of  Cardinal  Mazarin.  In  the 
political  creed  of  that  astute  ecclesiastic  a  policy  of  mag- 
nanimity had  no  place,  and  an  alliance  with  the  House  of 
Stuart  had  nothing  to  offer  in  the  way  of  such  prospective 
advantages  as  might  have  induced  him  to  espouse  Henrietta's 
cause.  The  avowed  disapproval  of  the  King  and  the  ill- 
concealed  reluctance  of  the  Cardinal  dealt  the  death-blow 
to  the  hopes  which  the  two  Queens  had  entertained.  It 
might  perhaps  have  been  foreseen  from  the  beginning  that 
other  counsels  would  ultimately  prevail,  for  it  was  extremely 
improbable  that  an  exiled  princess  would  mount  the  throne 
of  France  as  the  consort  of  Louis  XIV. 

The  frustration  of  the  great  hope  which  they  had  cher- 
ished was  a  keen  disappointment  to  the  English  Queen  and 
her  daughter,  but  joyful  tidings  were  soon  to  reach  them. 
In  England  that  for  which  they  had  almost  ceased  to  hope 
had  come  to  pass.  With  the  death  of  Cromwell,  the  ab- 
dication of  his  son,  and  the  discord  which  divided  the 
dominant  faction  against  itself,  the  star  of  Charles  was  at 
length  in  the  ascendant.  Henrietta,  who  had  contracted 
a  deep  affection  for  the  brother  whose  favourite  plaything 
she  had  been,  anxiously  awaited  the  issue,  and  when  the 
tidings  of  his  triumphant  return  came,  received  them  with 
unfeigned    delight.     Early  in  June,  1660,  Charles  wrote  to 


238  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

her  to  announce  his  arrival  in  England  and  to  give  her 
some  notion  of  the  exuberant  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
had  been  welcomed.  "To  know  that  you  have  reached 
England,"  she  replied,  ''and  at  the  same  time  that  you  have 
not  forgotten  me,  has  given  me  the  greatest  joy  in  the 
world;  indeed  I  wish  I  could  adequately  express  to  you 
what  have  been  my  thoughts  thereupon,  and  you  would  see 
how  true  it  is  that  there  is  no  one  more  your  servant 
than  I." 

To  what  extent  Henrietta  herself  was  to  benefit  by  this 
sudden  and  unlooked-for  change  in  the  fortunes  of  Charles 
was  soon  shown  by  the  formal  demand  of  her  hand  in 
marriage  on  behalf  of  Monsieur,  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  only 
brother  of  the  French  King.  As  soon  as  this  proposal  was 
made  to  her,  Henrietta  Maria  transmitted  the  news  to  her 
son,  assuring  him  that  his  sister  was  nothing  loath,  and 
that  Monsieur  awaited  his  reply  with  extreme  impatience. 
His  anxiety  relieved  by  a  prompt  and  favourable  answer, 
the  course  of  his  new-born  love  ran  smooth  for  the  moment ; 
but  there  was  a  trial  in  store  for  him,  for  Henrietta  and 
her  mother  had  promised  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  English 
Court.  Every  arrangement  had  indeed  been  made,  and 
the  departure  from  Paris  took  place.  After  a  long  and 
tedious  journey  they  reached  London  in  November  1660. 
There,  in  spite  of  some  present  sorrow  and  of  many  affect- 
ing memories  of  the  past,  a  family  re-union  of  the  happiest 
kind  took  place.  For  Henrietta,  who  was  too  young  to 
be  haunted  by  thoughts  of  an  order  which  had  been  swept 
away,  this  visit  to  her  brother's  kingdom  was  the  most 
intense  of  pleasures.  It  was  a  triumph  as  well.  She  won 
the  heart  not  only  of  every  courtier,  but  of  the  whole 
nation.  Manifold  tokens  revealed  the  admiration  which 
she  everywhere  excited.  Every  book  was  dedicated  to  her, 
every  entertainment   organised  in  her  honour.     Whilst  the 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  239 

citizens  flocked  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  her  as  she  passed 
through  the  streets  of  their  capital,  the  courtiers  vied  with 
each  other  in  their  efforts  to  win  her  favour.  Even  the 
Parliament  succumbed  to  the  epidemical  enthusiasm.  Not 
content  with  having  presented  an  address  of  congratulation 
upon  her  arrival  in  England,  the  House  of  Commons 
now  proceeded  to  vote  her  a  gift  of  ^10,000,  and — what 
was  more  remarkable — they  despatched  the  money  itself 
on  the  very  day  on  which  the  resolution  was  carried.  In 
a  letter  to  the  Speaker,  Henrietta  graciously  expressed 
her  thanks :  she  was  conscious,  she  said,  that  her  knowledge 
of  the  English  tongue  was  defective,  but  she  trusted  that 
she  made  amends  by  keeping  an  English  heart.  That  the 
Parliament  was  of  that  opinion  may  be  legitimately  inferred 
from  the  generosity  with  which  they  contributed  to  her 
dowry.  ^ 

In  the  meantime  it  was  becoming  apparent  that  Monsieur's 
rapid  triumph  was  a  source  of  regret  in  various  quarters. 
That  it  might  be  so  considered  by  the  spoiled  favourites 
of  Charles  was  a  matter  of  small  concern,  but  more  formid- 
able rivals  were  in  the  field.  Amongst  those  who  were 
suitors  for  Henrietta's  hand  were  now  to  be  found  the 
Emperor,  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
and  they  showed  little  inclination  to  desist  from  their 
suit  even  when  their  offers  were  emphatically  refused 
on  the  ground  that  the  Princess  was  already  the  affianc- 
ed bride  of  another.  At  the  intelligence  of  these  events 
Monsieur's  jealous  nature  promptly  took  alarm;  nor 
was    he    comforted    by  the  assurance   of  Henrietta  herself 


1  The  equivalent  in  French  money  of  the  sum  voted  by  them  was  560,000 
livres.  To  this  the  impecunious  Charles  contrived  to  add  gold  and  jewels 
of  about  half  that  value,  whilst  Louis  and  his  brother  promised  her  an 
annual  revenue  of  40,000  livres,  together  with  the  Chateau  of  Montargis, 
sumptuously  furnished,  for  a  place  of  residence. 


240  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

that  she  neither  regretted  nor  would  withdraw  her  pro- 
mise. His  only  reply  was  to  entreat  the  Queen  to  return 
with  her  daughter  to  Paris  without  delay.  Terrified  lest 
Henrietta  should  be  attacked  by  the  small-pox  to  which 
the  Princess  of  Orange  had  already  succumbed,  she  responded 
readily  to  his  appeal,  and  preparations  for  their  departure 
were  begun  forthwith.  As  soon  as  these  were  completed 
they  set  out  for  Portsmouth,  where  a  superb  vessel  lay  in 
readiness  to  carry  them  to  France.  They  had  not  been 
embarked  long  before  they  experienced  the  ill  fortune 
which  invariably  pursued  the  Queen  whenever  she  ven- 
tured upon  the  seas.  A  violent  storm  burst  upon  the  fleet. 
The  ships  which  formed  their  escort  were  scattered  or 
destroyed.  The  flag-ship  which  carried  them  was  for  a 
time  in  the  gravest  peril.  At  length  the  fury  of  the  wind 
abated  before  any  grave  mishap  had  occurred,  but  the 
vessel  had  suffered  too  severely  to  proceed  with  safety, 
and  was  forced  to  return  to  Portsmouth  to  refit.  There 
fresh  troubles  were  in  store  for  the  travellers.  Henrietta 
became  seriously  unwell,  and  it  was  feared  that  the  small- 
pox, which  had  already  proved  so  fatal  to  the  Queen's 
children,  might  carry  off  another  victim.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, there  was  no  foundation  for  the  gloomy  prognostica- 
tions in  which  the  physicians  indulged,  and  the  patient 
was  soon  in  a  condition  to  resume  her  journey.  Thence- 
forward she  was  disturbed  by  nothing  more  perilous  than 
the  importunities  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham.  Though  by 
no  means  the  most  dangerous,  the  Duke  was  amongst  the 
most  ardent  of  Monsieur's  rivals.  He  had  followed  up  his 
meteoric  infatuation  for  the  Princess  of  Orange  by  laying 
the  tribute  of  his  fickle  love  at  Henrietta's  feet,  and 
now,  with  his  indulgent  master's  consent,  he  was  accom- 
panying her  to  Paris.  His  antics,  which  had  already  made 
him  the  laughing-stock  of  the  Court,  served  for  a  while  to 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  241 

relieve  the  monotony  of  the  journey ;  but  so  grotesque  did 
his  conduct  become  that,  by  the  time  Havre  was  reached, 
it  was  a  cause  rather  of  annoyance  than  of  amusement; 
therefore  a  pretext  was  devised  for  bidding  him  go 
on  alone  to  Paris.  There  he  quickly  excited  the  furious 
indignation  of  Monsieur,  and  it  was  politely  intimated  to 
him  that  his  absence  from  England  was  a  calamity  which 
that  country  could  be  no  longer  expected  to  endure. 

Now  that  Henrietta  had  returned  to  France  there  was 
no  reason  why  the  marriage  should  be  further  delayed, 
and  as  soon  as  the  papal  dispensation  had  been  procured, 
the  ceremonies  connected  with  it  were  proceeded  with.  In 
consequence  of  the  Lenten  season  they  were  marked  by  an 
extreme  simplicity.  The  contract  was  signed  on  March  30 
[1661],  and  on  the  following  day  the  formal  act  of  be- 
trothal took  place.  Then,  in  the  Queen  of  England's  private 
chapel,  in  the  presence  only  of  some  few  members  of  the 
French  Royal  Family  and  of  Lord  St.  Albans,  the  English 
ambassador,  the  marriage  service  itself  was  celebrated. 

The  bride  was  not  unworthy  of  the  great  position 
which  she  was  thenceforth  to  occupy.  She  possessed 
in  full  measure  the  charm  which  characterized  the  mem- 
bers of  her  House,  and  the  courtiers  who  thronged  her 
palace  declared,  in  the  language  of  enthusiastic  panegyric, 
that  France  had  never  seen  a  princess  so  remarkable  for 
beauty,  grace,  and  wit.  Had  they  been  aware  of  the 
terms  in  which  Pepys  had  spoken  of  her,  they  would 
neither  have  commended  his  taste  nor  concurred  in  his 
opinions.  *'The  Princesse  Henrietta  is  very  pretty,"  he  had 
written  in  his  Diary,  *'  but  much  below  my  expectation ; 
and  her  dressing  of  herself  with  her  haire  frized  short  up 
to  her  eares,  did  make  her  seem  so  much  the  less  to  me. 
But  my  wife  standing  near  her  with  two  or  three  black 
patches  on,  and  well  dressed,  did  seem  to  me  much  hand- 

16 


242  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

somer  than  she."  It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  com- 
parison would  have  been  so  unfavourable  to  the  Princess 
in  the  opinion  of  an  impartial  critic.  She  was  generally 
reputed  to  be  the  most  beautiful  woman  of  her  time.  Her 
portraits  may  perhaps  suggest  the  reflection  that  in  that 
case  her  less  favoured  rivals  can  have  had  little  of  which 
to  boast;  but  we  are  told  that  her  beauty  was  of  an 
evasive  kind,  more  dependent  on  the  expression  and  animation 
of  the  face  than  on  any  regularity  of  feature  or  purity  of 
outline.  Contemporary  writers  frequently  attempted  to  de- 
scribe her  appearance,  and  never  without  admiration.  They 
concur  in  praising  her  refined  and  delicate  features,  her 
exquisite  nose  and  mouth,  the  colouring  of  her  lips  and 
the  whiteness  of  her  teeth,  the  softness  and  lustre  of  her 
deep  blue  eyes,  ^  and  the  aureole  of  auburn  hair  in  which 
her  face  was  set.  The  extreme  delicacy  of  her  complexion 
delighted  them  no  less,  but  it  also  filled  them  with  fore- 
boding, for  it  seemed  to  presage  an  early  death.  There 
were  other  grounds  for  that  apprehension.  '*  Tout  en  elle . . . 
trahissait  la  poitrinaire ;"  and  such  was  the  slender  frailty 
of  her  person  that  Louis  could  flippantly  rally  his  brother 
upon  the  eagerness  which  he  displayed  to  marry  the  bones 
of  the  Holy  Innocents.  There  was  a  slight  stoop  about 
her  shoulders  which  has  been  severely  termed  a  deformity, 
for  it  was  an  almost  imperceptible  blemish,  and  even  to 
Monsieur  himself  the  discovery  of  it  came  as  one  of 
those  post-nuptial  disillusionments  to  which  mankind  is 
liable.  Gamache  commends  both  "her  exquisite  figure" 
and  ''her  sweetly  majestic  carriage,"  declaring  that  "all 
her  motions  were  so  correct,  so  well  regulated  that  there 
was    nobody    but  praised  her;"  and  it  was  generally  con- 

*  "Choisy  dit,  il  est  vrai,  que  les  yeux  de  Madame  etaient  noirs.  Mais 
les  yeux  bleus,  ceux  surtout  qui  sont  d'un  bleu  de  saphir,  et  ce  sont  les  plus 
beaux,  paraissent  noirs  quand  la  pupille  est  dilatee."     Anatole  France. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  243 

sidered    that    she    was    possessed    of  the  quality  which  La 
Fontaine  described  when  he  wrote  of 

"La  gricQ  plus  belle  encore  que  la  beautd." 

Up  to  the  time  of  her  marriage  Henrietta  had  been  but 
little  known  at  the  French  Court,  and  those  who  had  oc- 
casionally seen  her  in  the  Queen  of  England's  apartments 
had  been  accustomed  to  regard  her  as  a  timid  and  spirit- 
less child.  They  were  now  surprised  by  the  easy  grace 
with  which  she  discharged  the  duties  of  her  new  position, 
by  her  gaiety  and  vivacity,  her  winning  manners  and  un- 
failing tact.  Competent  judges  of  such  quahties  extolled 
her  taste  and  discrimination  in  art  and  letters,  the  subtlety 
of  her  wit,  the  sprightliness  of  her  imagination ;  and  those 
who  lived  to  endure  the  malicious  back-biting  of  la  Mon- 
tespan  and  the  sterilising  reserve  of  Madame  de  Maintenon 
were  often  heard  to  deplore  the  change  which  had  come  over 
the  Court  since  the  days  of  the  young  Madame.  '*  She  had  all 
the  qualities  that  go  to  make  a  charming  woman,"  said  the 
Abbe  de  Choisy,  "  and  all  that  are  needed  for  the  conduct  of 
important  affairs,  had  opportunities  for  displaying  them  pre- 
sented themselves."  The  most  censorious  of  all  her  critics 
admits  that  she  "was  thought  the  wittiest  woman  in  France." 
"Madame,"  said  a  shrewd  ecclesiastic  who  knew  her  well, 
"avoit  I'esprit  solide  et  delicat,  du  bon  sens,  connaissant 
les  choses  fines,  I'ame  grande  et  juste,  eclairee  sur  tout  ce 
qu'il  faudroit  faire,  mais  quelquefois  ne  le  faisant  pas,  ou 
par  une  paresse  naturelle,  ou  par  une  certaine  hauteur 
d'ame  qui  se  ressentoit  de  son  origine,  et  qui  lui  faisoit 
envisager  un  devoir  comme  une  bassesse.  Elle  meloit  dans 
toute  sa  conversation  une  douceur  qu'on  ne  trouvoit  point 
dans  toutes  les  autres  personnes  royales.  Ce  n'est  pas  qu'elle 
eut  moins  de  majeste ;  mais  elle  en  savoit  user  d'une  maniere 


244  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

plus  facile  et  plus  touchante ;  de  sorte  qu'avec  tant  de  qualites 
toutes  divines,  elle  ne  laissoit  pas  d'etre  la  plus  humaine 
du  monde."  To  her  was  attributed  the  introduction  of  that 
politeness  and  grace  which  made  France  consider  herself  the 
ultimate  arbiter  in  all  matters  of  taste,  the  school  and  model 
of  all  human  manners.  In  the  eyes  of  an  historian  her 
figure  stands  clearly  defined  as  'M'idole  de  la  cour  et  la 
muse  des  ecrivains  et  des  artistes."  ^  All  the  wit  and  learning 
of  the  age  gathered  round  her.  Among  her  intimate  friends 
were  the  two  great  generals  of  the  day,  Conde  and  Turenne, 
wits  like  La  Rochefoucauld  and  Bussy,  men  of  learning  like 
Cosnac,  Treville,  and  Bossuet.  The  most  brilliant  women 
of  the  Court,  Madame  de  Sable,  Madame  de  Sevigne,  and 
Madame  de  la  Fayette,  delighted  in  her  society.  Racine, 
Boileau,  and  Moliere  were  early  taken  into  her  favour.  No 
one  was  more  quick  to  appreciate  their  talents,  more  eager 
to  aid  and  protect  them;  and  they  acknowledged  that, 
although  they  did  not  always  follow  her  suggestions,  they 
never  listened  without  interest  and  profit  to  her  just  and 
stimulating  criticism.  Racine,  dedicating  a  tragedy  to  her, 
declared,  in  somewhat  high-flown  language,  that  an  author 
might  feel  satisfied  that  he  had  acquitted  himself  with  credit 
when  he  had  succeeded  in  pleasing  the  Princess  who  was 
the  arbiter  of  what  is  beautiful.  One  day,  when  the  author 
of  Le  Lutrin  was  comparatively  unknown,  she  noticed  him 
in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  courtiers,  and  greeted  him  by 
quoting  a  line  from  his  own  poem.  It  was  Moliere, 
however,  who  owed  most  to  her  patronage  and  protection. 
Everyone  will  remember  how  she  stood  sponsor  to  his 
infant  son  when  he  was  pursued  by  the  most  spiteful 
calumnies,  and  how,  when  pedants  and  bigots  had  conspired 
to  destroy  his   Tartuffe,  she  entered  the  lists  as  his  champion 

*    Henri  Martin. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  245 

and  contributed  to  his  ultimate  triumph.  Amongst  the 
dedications  of  his  plays  there  is  one  which  is  marked 
by  a  serious  and  earnest  tenderness;  it  is  that  which  is 
prefixed  to  LEcole  des  Femmesy  addressed  to  Madame. 
**0n  n'est  pas  en  peine,  sans  doute,  comme  il  faut  faire 
pour  vous  louer:  la  matiere,  Madame,  ne  saute  que  trop 
aux  yeux;  et  de  quelque  cote  qu'on  vous  regarde,  on 
rencontre  gloire  sur  gloire  et  qualites  sur  qualites.  Vous 
en  avez,  Madame,  du  cote  du  rang  et  de  la  naissance,  qui 
vous  font  respecter  de  toute  la  terre.  Vous  en  avez  du 
cote  des  graces  et  de  I'esprit  et  du  corps,  qui  vous  font 
admirer  de  toutes  les  personnes  qui  vous  voient.  Vous  en 
avez  du  cote  de  Tame,  qui,  si  Ton  ose  parler  ainsi,  vous 
font  aimer  de  tous  ceux  qui  ont  I'honneur  d'approcher  de 
vous:  je  veux  dire  cette  douceur  pleine  de  charme  dont 
vous  daignez  temperer  la  fierte  des  grands  titres  que  vous 
portez,  cette  bonte  toute  obligeante,  cette  afifabilite  genereuse 
que  vous  faites  paraitre  pour  tout  le  monde."  This  is  no 
sham  tribute  in  the  mouth  of  Moliere:  it  was  not  by 
chance  that  some  of  the  most  charming  of  his  creations, 
Leonor,  for  instance,  in  LEcole  des  Maris^  and  Henriette 
in  Les  Femmes  Savantes^  were  instinct  with  Madame*s 
own  peculiar  charm. 

To  perform  in  a  ballet  and  to  patronise  a  dramatist  was 
no  trivial  matter  in  seventeenth-century  France.  The 
theatre  then  constituted  a  social  and  religious  question  of 
the  most  formidable  description,  and  its  existence  was  in 
jeopardy.  Narrow  and  bigoted  theologians,  with  a  power- 
ful party  of  fanatics  at  their  back,  poured  opprobrium  on 
the  stage,  inveighed  against  the  playwright,  anathematized 
the  actor.  It  was  only  after  a  long  struggle  that  the 
triumph  of  the  drama  was  secured.  Richelieu,  who  regarded 
the  stage  as  a  valuable  instrument  of  civilisation,  had  been 
confronted  by  the  vulgar  prejudice  which  sought  to  degrade 


246  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

it.  Under  Mazarin  his  views  had  indeed  survived  in  an 
indulgent  section  of  the  clerical  party,  but  it  had  been  no 
easy  matter  to  set  at  rest  the  uneasy  conscience  of  Anne 
of  Austria.  In  the  early  days  of  Louis  the  contest  had 
begun  afresh,  and  Henrietta  took  a  bold  line  in  ignoring 
the  declamations  of  a  noisy  priesthood.  Piety  stood  aghast. 
''EUe  affectoit  de  faire  1' esprit  fort."  Had  she  not  ap- 
plauded the  comedies  of  Moli^re,  and  wept  over  the  tra- 
gedies of  Racine  ? 

Of  a  very  different  order  of  beings  was  Madame's  husband, 
Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans.  Warned  by  the  lessons  of  the 
preceding  reign,  Mazarin  had  desired  that  the  brother  of 
Louis  XIV.  should  be  fitted  to  play  only  the  most  insig- 
nificant part,  and  to  concern  himself  with  nothing  but  the 
most  paltry  affairs.  The  system  of  education  which  he 
devised  succeeded  beyond  his  most  ardent  expectations. 
Monsieur  grew  into  a  man  ignorant,  effeminate,  and  vain, 
devoid  of  affection,  but  consumed  by  jealousy,  destitute  of 
ambition  and  of  intelligence,  without  an  honourable  senti- 
timent,  a  noble  aspiration,  or  a  single  great  quality,  the 
dupe  of  all  who  stooped  to  flatter  him  and  the  easy  prey 
of  every  sycophant.  Fired  by  the  example  of  the  Abbe 
de  Choisy,  who  had  contrived  in  the  course  of  a  vicious 
career  to  offend  the  taste  of  even  that  indulgent  age,  the 
Duke  would  appear  at  masquerades  in  feminine  attire  and 
would  study  the  effect  of  his  patches  and  paint  with  more 
than  feminine  vanity;  nor  was  he  easily  restrained  from 
mimicking  his  profligate  friend's  more  grotesque  and  less 
pardonable  antics.  Had  he  belonged  to  a  prominent  section 
of  the  society  of  our  own  time,  he  could  not  have  been  more 
addicted  to  giving  parties  and  holding  receptions,  nor  more 
absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure  and  the  study  of  dress. 
However  specious  the  pretexts  which  he  devised,  the  con- 
stant   recurrence     of    his    receptions    was    attributed — and 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  247 

with  justice — to  the  vanity  which  made  him  long  for  a 
Court  of  his  own ;  his  spirits  would  rise  or  fall  according 
to  the  number  of  his  guests,  and  he  was  never  so  happy 
as  when  he  was  able  to  edge  his  way  through  crowded 
rooms,  directing  the  attention  of  all  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  assembled  company.  His  love  of  dress  was  inordi- 
nate. He  welcomed  state  functions  and  family  bereave- 
ments with  equal  pleasure  since  both  furnished  him 
with  opportunities  of  displaying  himself  in  new  and 
sumptuous  costumes;  and  it  was  observed  that,  though  he 
danced  well,  he  could  not  dance  like  a  man  because  his 
shoes  were  too  high-heeled.  When  he  was  with  the  army, 
the  soldiers  used  to  say  that  he  was  more  afraid  of  being 
sun-burnt,  and  of  the  blackness  of  the  powder,  than  of  the 
musket-balls ;  and  it  may  well  have  been  true,  for  he  could 
show  upon  occasion  that,  Httle  as  the  virtue  had  been 
developed,  he  did  not  wholly  lack  the  personal  valour  in 
which  the  Bourbons  were  seldom  deficient.  He  habitually 
behaved  towards  the  King  with  a  submission  that  was  almost 
servile,  but  he  was  as  irritable  and  petulant  as  a  spoiled 
child,  and  once,  in  an  access  of  ungovernable  passion, 
he  dashed  a  bowl  of  soup  into  his  brother's  face.  Not 
the  least  singular  of  his  foibles  was  the  affectation  of 
religious  zeal,  and  he  could  address  his  dying  mother 
in  the  language  of  an  exalted  piety  that  seemed  the 
outcome  of  a  life  of  prayer  and  penitence.  Secretly  he 
leaned  towards  depravity;  yet,  though  he  set  small  store 
by  chastity,  he  opposed  to  the  blandishments  of  the 
most  seductive  women  a  cold  and  apathetic  indifference. 
His  second  wife  believed  that  he  was  never  in  love  during 
his  life,  and  Madame  de  la  Fayette,  who  knew  him 
well,  declared  that  to  inflame  his  heart  was  a  thauma- 
turgic  feat  beyond  the  power  of  women.  But  if  he  was 
impervious  to  their  charms  he  thirsted  eagerly  for  their  ad- 


248  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

miration,  and  he  would  never  forgive  a  lady  who  scorned 
to  simulate  grief  at  his  departure  for  the  seat  of  war. 
Every  action  of  his  life  augmented  the  reputation  which  he 
had  so  justly  acquired  for  incompetence  and  folly.  When 
political  malcontents  urged  him  to  make  a  bid  for  the 
throne  of  Naples,  he  replied  that  the  town  was  said  to  be 
subject  to  earthquakes  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  a 
volcano :  a  kingdom  with  such  a  capital  had  no  attractions 
for  him.  Indeed,  his  puerile  inability  to  cope  with  serious 
affairs  would  of  itself  have  justified  the  contempt  with  which 
he  was  universally  regarded. 

The  France  of  Louis  XIV.  occupies  a  conspicuous  place 
in  the  history  of  Europe.  A  host  of  writers  have  dwelt 
upon  its  power  and  prestige,  the  splendour  of  its  King,  the 
pomp  and  magnificence,  the  refinement  and  elegance,  of 
its  Court.  But  historians  judge  an  epoch  from  a  dis- 
tance. Concerning  themselves  only  with  its  broadest  features 
and  most  dominant  characteristics,  they  describe  it  with  a 
precision  and  simplicity  which  are  apt  to  deceive  in  that 
they  necessitate  the  sacrifice  of  those  minor  details  without 
which  the  picture  is  incomplete.  Nothing  is  so  false  as 
the  assumption  that  all  is  great  in  a  great  age.  Good 
and  evil  mingle  in  proportions  which  never  greatly  vary, 
and  every  age  is  marred  by  much  that  is  petty  and  vile. 
The  vaunted  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  was  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  ^  The  worldly  wisdom  of  a  brilliant  but  hollow  society 
divested  life  of  every  troublesome  obligation,  and  avowed 
that  amusement  was  its  end  and  object.  Its  boast  was 
that  never  in  any  country  or  in  any  age  had  social  charm 
made  life  so  agreeable.  In  the  expressive  phrase  of  Taine, 
the  courtiers  under  the  ancien  regime  were  men  for  whom 
life  was  a  play.     Everything  was  permissible,  provided  that 

1  See  M.  Gaston  Boissier's  brilliant  essay  on  Madame  de  Sevigne :  Grands 
Ecrivains  Series. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  249 

it  made  existence  more  interesting  or  more  agreeable. 
All  the  world  was  of  opinion  that  it  might  be  desirable 
to  die  in  the  grace  of  God,  but  they  cordially  agreed 
with  the  lady  who  found  it  irksome  to  have  to  live  in  it; 
ennui  was  the  only  evil  which  the  courtier  feared  in  this 
world  and  the  sole  cause  of  his  apprehension  as  to  the 
next.  Modesty,  kindness,  loftiness  and  purity  of  sentiment 
were  not  included  in  the  catalogue  of  moral  virtues.  The 
restrictions  which  the  Decalogue  had  sought  to  impose 
upon  the  most  powerful  of  human  passions  were  seldom 
suffered  to  throw  the  shadow  of  constraint  across  the  most 
interesting  of  human  relations.  Marriage,  with  its  onerous 
duties  and  tiresome  limitations,  was  regarded  as  a  fruitful 
source  of  misery.  Unable  to  establish  a  social  regime  under 
which  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  should  be  dispensed 
with,  the  courtier  nevertheless  endeavoured  to  enjoy  some 
of  its  more  terrestrial  advantages  by  divesting  the  super- 
fluous institution  of  its  sacramental  character,  and  debasing 
it  to  the  level  of  a  civil  contract  with  no  claims  upon  the 
fidelity  of  either  party.  Conjugal  love  was  held  up  to 
ridicule  as  a  species  of  felicity  unfit  for  a  gentleman; 
conjugal  fidelity  was  relegated  to  the  degraded  position 
of  a  bourgeois  convention.  The  King  set  the  example ;  the 
courtier  hastened  to  pay  him  the  compliment  of  that  sincere 
flattery  which  takes  the  form  of  imitation. 

To  the  members  of  this  society  the  central  point  of  the 
universe  is  the  person  of  their  sovereign.  It  is  in  the  royal 
presence  that  the  subject  lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being 
— the  rest  is  nothing.  *'I  would  as  soon  die,"  cried  the 
Due  de  Richelieu,  **as  be  two  months  without  a  glimpse 
of  royalty."  There  were  men  who  enjoyed  the  reputation 
of  having  spent  forty-five  years  of  their  life  upon  their  feet 
in  the  presence  of  royalty,  and  it  was  in  no  jesting  spirit 
that   one   of  them   insisted   that   the   proper   rules   for  the 


250  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

conduct  of  life  were  to  speak  well  of  everybody,  to  ask 
for  everything  that  was  going,  and  to  sit  down  when  you 
got  the  chance.  "  He  who  will  consider,"  observed  La 
Bruyere,  "how  the  face  of  the  sovereign  makes  all  the 
happiness  of  the  courtier,  how  he  busies  himself  and  fills 
his  whole  life  with  seeing  him  and  being  near  him,  will 
understand  in  some  measure  how  it  is  that  the  sight  of  God 
makes  all  the  glory  and  felicity  of  the  saints."  The  ironical 
parallel  recalls  the  terms  of  fulsome  adulation  in  which 
Louis  was  wont  to  be  addressed.  The  Parlement  informed 
him  that  it  looked  upon  him  as  a  living  image  of  the 
Divinity.  ''The  Prince,"  thought  the  Due  de  Montausier, 
'*is  the  lieutenant  of  God  in  his  kingdom,  and  one  of  His 
images  in  the  earth. '^  When  the  distinction  was  so  slight, 
some  confusion  ensued;  and  it  was  doubted  whether  the 
services  in  the  royal  chapel  were  held  for  the  worship  of 
God,  or  designed  for  the  gratification  of  His  representative.  ^ 
Such  were  some  of  the  principles  of  the  Court  in  which 
Henrietta  now  took  a  prominent  place.  She  was  received 
with  an  outburst  of  enthusiasm.  "The  men  thought 
only  of  paying  their  court  to  her,  and  the  women  of  gaining 
her  good  graces."  The  King,  who  had  despised  her  so 
recently,  repented  of  his  error,  and  strove  to  atone  for 
it  by  courting  her  with  the  most  determined  assiduity. 
Callous  to  public  opinion  and  indifferent  to  the  jealous 
feelings  of  his  Queen,  he  scarcely  attempted  to  disguise  his 
admiration.  When  the  Court  went  to  Fontainebleau  in  the 
summer  of  1661,  she  became  the  life  and  soul  of  its  pleas- 
ures. There  was  not  a  project  formed  that  had  not  her 
gratification  for  its  object.  No  sort  of  gaiety  and  dissi- 
pation was  left  untried :  conventionality  was  thrown  to  the 
winds.     Fascinated   by  the  vast  and  mysterious  forest  and 

1  vSee,  for  example,  St.  Simon's  Mcmoires,  v.  423,  424. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  251 

allured  by  the  prospect  of  privacy  which  it  offered,  Madame 
often  consented  to  accompany  the  King  upon  expeditions 
which  began  at  the  setting  of  the  sun,  and  had  not  always 
terminated  when  it  rose  again.  Such  indiscreet  conduct  could 
not  fail  to  provoke  comment,  and  it  placed  a  dangerous 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  those  who  were  enraged  by  the 
deference  with  which  Louis  treated  her.  Anne  of  Austria, 
who  could  countenance  her  son's  deviations  from  the  path 
of  virtue  when  the  tempter  was  without  intelligence  or 
ambition,  was  infuriated  by  his  attachment  to  a  Princess 
whose  influence  seemed  likely  to  extinguish  her  own.  En- 
chanted by  the  importance  which  he  himself  derived  from 
it,  Monsieur  had  at  first  contemplated  his  wife's  triumph 
with  satisfaction ;  but  it  required  no  great  skill  on  the  part 
of  her  ill-wishers  to  stir  his  slumbering  jealousy  into  activity. 
On  all  sides  efforts  were  made  to  alienate  the  King  from 
Madame.  Counsel,  insinuation,  argument,  all  means  were 
employed.  Louis  was  informed  of  his  wife's  jealousy,  and 
his  fears  were  adroitly  aroused  by  a  suggestion  of  the 
disastrous  effect  which  it  might  produce.  He  was  re- 
minded of  the  measures  which  he  had  taken  for  the  better 
government  of  the  Church,  and  it  was  softly  insinuated  that 
his  conduct  might  seem  to  be  somewhat  at  variance  with 
the  austere  principles  which  he  had  inculcated.  Then  the 
enemies  of  Madame  followed  up  their  advantage  by  a  more 
dexterous  manoeuvre :  they  magnified  her  genius,  and 
pointed  out  to  the  King  that,  even  if  she  did  not  seek  to 
govern  him,  it  would  nevertheless  be  assumed  that  he  was 
merely  the  slave  and  instrument  of  so  accomplished  a 
counsellor.  Louis  at  once  took  alarm,  and  decided  that 
he  would  counterfeit  a  passion  for  one  of  her  maids- 
of-honour  in  order  to  conceal  his  real  sentiments.  But 
the  lady  whom  he  made  the  recipient  of  his  attentions 
was    Mile,    de    La    Valliere,    and    ere    long   his   simulated 


252  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

devotion  became  a  profound  reality.  It  was  not  without 
mortification  that  Henrietta  saw  herself  supplanted  in  his 
affections  by  the  naive  girl  who  had  been  chosen  to  play 
so  very  different  a  part;  but  she  was  too  proud  to  show 
her  vexation,  too  gentle  to  harbour  animosity  against  its 
authors.  When  she  afterwards  hit  upon  the  notion  of  pro- 
ducing a  friendly  duel  between  Corneille  and  Racine,  she 
suggested  as  a  theme  for  their  plays  the  love  and  the 
parting  of  Titus  and  Berenice ;  and  in  the  eyes  of  contem- 
poraries the  interest  of  Racine's  drama  was  not  a  little 
increased,  not  only  by  its  direct  references  to  the  rupture 
between  the  King  and  Marie  de  Mancini,  but  also  by  its 
more  veiled  allusions  to  the  abrupt  close  of  Madame's  own 
short  romance. 

The  life  of  pleasure  into  which  Madame  had  recklessly 
thrown  herself  at  Fontainebleau  and  the  bitter  deception 
in  which  it  ended,  exercised  the  most  deleterious  influence 
upon  her  health.  She  became  pale  and  emaciated,  was 
racked  by  a  cough  which  sometimes  threatened  suffocation, 
and  could  not  sleep  without  the  aid  of  opiates.  But  although 
she  had  to  be  carried  to  Paris  in  a  litter  and  was  un- 
able to  leave  her  bed,  her  room  was  thronged  with  visitors 
from  early  morning  till  late  at  night.  Thus,  in  the  midst 
of  diversions  which  did  much  to  raise  her  spirits,  the 
winter  passed;  and  she  was  already  nearly  restored  when 
she  became  involved  in  another  and  more  serious  intrigue. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  charming  book  in  which 
Madame  de  la  Fayette  has  told  the  story  of  Henrietta's 
life  at  Court,  will  remember  how  conspicuous  a  place  in 
her  narrative  is  occupied  by  the  Comte  de  Guiche.  He 
was  a  man  who  seemed  to  himself  and  to  many  of  those 
who  knew  him  to  be  destined  for  the  part  of  hero  in  some 
romantic  tale;  and  if  love  of  self,  love  of  fame,  a  reckless 
indifference    to    the    feelings  of  others,  and  a  supreme  dis- 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  253 

regard  of  consequences  be  held  to  be  qualifications,  then 
he  was  not  ill  fitted  for  that  singular  vocation.  Son  of 
the  Marechal  de  Gramont  and  son-in-law  of  the  Due  de 
SuUi,  he  enjoyed  a  liberal  share  of  the  world's  most  coveted 
gifts,  and  fortune  had  added  a  faultless  perfection  of  face 
and  manner.  But  his  mind  had  not  been  formed  on  the 
graceful  pattern  of  his  person,  and  the  overweening  conceit, 
which  was  the  dominant  trait  in  his  shallow  character, 
blinded  him  to  the  distinction  between  notoriety  and  re- 
nown. The  prime  favourite  of  Monsieur,  brother  of  Ma- 
dame's  bosom-friend,  nephew  of  the  lady  who  was  about 
to  become  the  governess  of  her  children,  and  an  indispen- 
sable ally  in  the  amusements  she  planned,  everything 
conspired  to  throw  him  in  her  way ;  and  when  the  King 
forsook  her  he  was  free  to  make  use  of  his  opportunities. 
It  was  not  without  pleasure  that  he  noticed  how  profound 
was  the  impression  made  upon  the  Court  by  the  discovery 
of  his  passion  for  its  favourite,  for  he  had  been  seduced 
rather  by  the  perilous  glory  of  loving  so  high  than  by 
any  real  desire  that  she  should  play  the  part  of  Guinevere 
to  his  Launcelot.  Before  long  the  gossip  of  the  courtiers 
came  to  the  ears  of  Monsieur,  who  upbraided  his  friend 
with  incontinent  violence:  whereupon  Guiche,  blurting  out 
an  insolent  retort,  withdrew  from  Court. 

All  this  while  the  heroine  of  the  affair  had  been  blissfully 
ignorant  of  what  was  happening,  and,  when  she  heard  of 
it,  her  first  feeling  was  one  of  anger  with  the  man  who 
had  presumed  to  minister  to  his  vanity  at  the  expense  of 
her  good  name.  Here  the  matter  would  have  ended  but 
for  the  intervention  of  a  certain  Mile,  de  Montalais,  one 
of  Madame 's  maids-of-honour.  This  Montalais  was  a  scheming, 
unscrupulous  woman,  at  home  in  every  murky  by-way  of 
Court  intrigue,  whose  object  was  to  insinuate  herself  into 
the   confidence   of  some   great   person.     Her  own  mistress 


254  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

was  the  obvious  victim,  and  she  saw  her  opportunity 
in  the  passion,  or  policy,  of  Guiche.  As  soon  as  he 
returned  to  Court,  she  went  to  him  and  promised  him  her 
aid.  Then  her  campaign  opened.  Seeking  a  private  inter- 
view with  her  mistress  and  throwing  herself  at  her  feet, 
she  drew  an  affecting  picture  of  the  young  nobleman's 
love  and  unhappiness,  and  Guiche,  who  little  needed  such 
encouragement,  was  enchanted  to  hear  of  the  complaisance 
with  which  the  discourse  had  been  received.  He  was  now 
emboldened  to  take  more  perilous  measures.  The  novels 
of  the  time  had  led  him  to  suppose  that  no  lover  can  ever 
allow  a  day  to  pass  without  inditing  at  least  four  epistles 
to  his  mistress,  and  Montalais  was  soon  busily  employed 
as  the  bearer  of  his  letters  to  the  Princess.  These  she 
took  and  read — a  harmless  if  foolish  proceeding,  for  the 
language  in  which  the  Count  enveloped  the  outpourings  of 
his  soul  defied  interpretation.  The  whole  affair  was  nothing 
but  a  piece  of  innocent  folly,  as  is  proved  by  an  anecdote 
which  belongs  to  the  period  of  Madame's  illness.  One  day 
in  broad  daylight  and  in  the  presence  of  many  ladies  of 
the  Court,  Guiche  made  his  way  to  the  side  of  her  sick- 
bed in  the  disguise  of  a  fortune-teller.  The  risk  of  detec- 
tion was  great  and  its  consequences  would  have  been 
serious  for  them  both:  yet  they  could  find  no  more  im- 
portant topic  to  discuss  than  the  foibles  and  idiosyncrasies 
of  Monsieur. 

Such  was  still  the  posture  of  affairs  when  the  secret  was 
betrayed  to  the  King.  Louis,  still  too  young  to  be  a  stern 
judge  of  such  faults,  readily  promised  to  deal  indulgently 
with  the  peccant  Count,  although  he  roundly  rebuked  Hen- 
rietta for  the  imprudence  of  which  she  had  been  guilty. 
Consequently,  when  she  casually  learnt  that  Guiche  was 
ordered  to  join  the  troops  in  Lorraine,  she  was  not  a  little 
astonished.     In  the  dramatic  relation  of  Montalais  her  sur- 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  255 

prise  lost  none  of  its  significance,  and  Guiche,  mistaking  it 
for  displeasure,  vowed  that  he  would  decline  an  appoint- 
ment which  was  none  of  his  seeking.  Even  after  Hen- 
rietta herself  had  solemnly  commanded  him  to  submit,  he 
would  not  obey  till  induced  by  the  promise  of  a  parting 
interview.  A  meeting  was  accordingly  arranged,  and  one 
day,  in  the  absence  of  Monsieur,  he  was  admitted  by  Mon- 
talais  to  a  private  gallery.  There  Madame  joined  him. 
No  sooner  had  she  done  so  than  the  Duke  unexpectedly 
returned,  and  it  was  only  by  precipitately  retreating  to  the 
recesses  of  the  nearest  chimney-piece  that  Guiche  escaped 
detection.  But  even  that  ignominious  expedient  was  to  be 
of  no  avail.  Two  ladies  of  the  household,  made  suspicious 
by  the  ascendency  which  Montalais  had  established  over 
the  mind  of  her  mistress,  had  remarked  the  stealthy  in- 
troduction of  Guiche  into  the  palace,  and  set  about  com- 
passing the  ruin  of  their  rival  by  revealing  what  they  had 
discovered.  Monsieur,  when  the  information  reached  him, 
comported  himself  with  unwonted  moderation.  Chafing  as 
he  usually  did  under  a  sense  of  inferiority  to  his  brilliant 
wife,  he  was  enchanted  with  the  prospect  of  assuming  a 
tone  of  superiority  towards  her,  of  receiving  her  confessions, 
censuring  her  conduct,  and  enjoying  the  novel  sensation  of 
assuring  her  of  his  forgiveness.  Going  to  Henrietta's  apart- 
ments, he  told  her  that  he  had  expelled  Montalais  from 
the  palace,  and  having  delivered  himself  of  that  significant 
announcement,  waited  in  chilling  silence  for  a  reply.  How 
best  to  answer  his  veiled  indictment  must  have  been  a  dif- 
ficult matter  to  decide  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  all 
the  more  so  as  there  was  nothing  to  show  how  far  he  was 
acquainted  with  the  true  facts  of  the  case ;  but  Henrietta, 
whose  straightforwardness  always  extricated  her  from  posi- 
tions that  others  might  have  found  embarrassing,  faced  the 
situation  in  a  manner  at  once  prudent  and  courageous.    She 


256  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

frankly  told  him  the  whole  story  of  what  had  occurred,  and 
assuring  him  that  she  had  never  before  had  a  private  in- 
terview with  Guiche  nor  received  many  letters  from  him, 
pledged  her  word  to  break  with  him  for  good  and  all.  A 
complete  reconciliation  then  took  place,  Monsieur  being 
satisfied  with  his  advantage  and  with  the  punishment  of 
Montalais  who  had  instigated  the  intrigue.  To  solicit  the 
disgrace  of  Guiche  was  clearly  out  of  the  question,  for  to 
do  so  was  to  court  a  scandal,  and  he  was  therefore  allowed 
to  depart  unpunished. 

A  new  actor  now  appeared  upon  the  scene.  Guiche 
had  left  behind  him  a  confidant  and  a  soi-disant  friend 
named  the  Marquis  des  Vardes.  In  all  Europe  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to  find  a  more  consummate  villain  than  this 
man,  and  history  has  done  well  to  heap  infamy  on  his  name. 
With  the  society  of  that  time,  however,  he  was  a  favourite, 
and  he  had  enjoyed  the  favour  of  some  of  the  greatest 
ladies  of  the  day,  for  he  was  a  man  of  wit,  resource,  and 
address,  whose  victims  only  discovered  when  too  late 
how  dangerous  were  his  powers  of  flattery  and  deceit. 
Proficient  in  the  arts  of  the  sycophant  he  stood  high  in 
the  favour  of  the  King,  but  his  ambition  knew  no  bounds, 
and  he  would  pursue  any  object  however  base  or  employ 
any  means  however  vile.  When  an  advantage  was  to 
be  gained  or  peril  avoided,  he  was  equally  ready  to  forsake 
a  mistress  or  betray  a  friend,  and  his  life  was  an  ignoble 
tale  of  intrigue,  treachery,  and  dishonour.  Subdued  by 
the  spell  which  Madame  cast  upon  all  who  approached  her, 
he  had  formed  the  characteristic  determination  of  supplanting 
Guiche  in  her  affections,  and  the  feline  cunning  with  which 
he  laid  his  plans  showed  that  the  notion  was  more  than 
a  transient  caprice.  The  first  step  had  been  to  procure 
the  removal  of  Guiche.  In  order  to  achieve  this  he  had 
gone  to  the  Marechal  de  Gramont  and  had  descanted  with 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  257 

such  disinterested  fervour  upon  the  dangers  which  his  son 
was  courting  by  his  reckless  conduct,  that  the  Marshal 
hastened  to  entreat  the  King  to  relegate  him  to  an  honourable 
exile.  When  once  the  Count  had  departed  it  was  an  easy 
matter  to  keep  him  supplied  with  picturesque  accounts  of 
Madame's  infidelities,  and  he  hoped  that  it  might  not  be 
more  difficult  to  persuade  the  Princess  that  the  Count  had 
forsaken  her.  Henrietta,  regarding  him  as  the  exile's  friend 
and  ignorant  of  the  treacherous  game  he  was  playing,  was 
willing  enough  to  admit  him  to  favour,  and  he  was  already 
congratulating  himself  upon  the  success  of  his  manoeuvres 
when  a  trifling  incident  wrought  a  revolution  in  his  policy. 
The  name  of  Guiche  occurring  in  the  course  of  conversation, 
Henrietta  referred  with  such  feeling  to  the  absent  warrior 
that  she  extinguished  the  presumptuous  hopes  of  Vardes. 
His  schemes  frustrated,  his  jealousy  aroused,  and  his  passion 
baffled,  Vardes  gave  himself  over  to  the  worst  feelings 
of  his  evil  nature,  and  determined  to  ruin  the  lady  who 
had  thus  unwittingly  slighted  him.  Artfully  masking  his 
resentment,  he  went  to  her  (with  a  well-feigned  air  of 
apprehension)  and  cajoled  her  into  the  belief  that  she  had 
become  the  object  of  the  secret  antipathy  of  Louis.  She 
accordingly  wrote  to  her  brother  in  a  tone  of  sombre 
foreboding,  and  Charles,  not  unnaturally  concluding  that 
the  conduct  of  the  French  King  had  furnished  her  with 
substantial  grounds  for  apprehension,  replied  in  terms  which 
were  scarcely  favourable  to  that  august  monarch.  This 
was  the  end  for  which  Vardes  had  schemed.  Obtaining 
possession  of  the  letters,  he  took  them  and  laid  them  before 
his  master:  Madame,  he  said,  was  a  dangerous  person 
utterly  unworthy  of  the  confidence  which  had  been  placed 
in  her,  and  it  was  fortunate  that  any  mischief  she  might 
meditate  would  come  to  the  knowledge  of  so  loyal  a  subject 
as  himself.     He  was  satisfied  with  the  effect  which  he  had 

17 


258  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

produced  on  the  mind  of  the  King,  but  he  had  not  reckoned 
with  the  jealousy  of  the  Comtesse  de  Soissons,  his  mistress. 
Tortured  by  the  fear  of  losing  her  lover,  Madame  de  Sois- 
sons was  bent  upon  separating  him  from  the  Princess,  and 
this  she  thought  she  might  best  effect  by  disclosing  his 
wicked  policy.  She  therefore  sought  an  interview  with 
Madame,  and  told  her  how  Vardes  had  brought  about  the 
removal  of  Guiche  and  how  he  was  now  labouring  to  ruin 
her  with  the  King. 

The  position  of  the  detected  intriguer,  already  seriously 
menaced,  was  now  made  still  more  critical  by  the  return 
of  Guiche.  Sooner  or  later  he  must  discover  that  foul 
means  had  somewhere  been  employed,  and  Vardes  looked 
forward  with  some  uneasiness  to  the  time  when  he  should 
learn  that  it  was  no  open  enemy  who  had  tricked  him, 
but  his  own  famihar  friend.  For  the  present,  however, 
Guiche  was  without  suspicion,  and  as  Monsieur  would  only 
tolerate  his  presence  at  those  receptions  where  private  con- 
verse was  impossible,  he  requested  Vardes  to  do  him  the 
favour  of  carrying  a  letter  to  the  Princess.  There  was  no 
alternative  for  Vardes  but  to  comply  with  the  request, 
although  he  was  far  from  confident  of  obtaining  an  audience 
of  Madame.  She  was  indeed  in  no  mood  for  granting 
him  favours,  but  he  proved  so  importunate  a  suitor  that  at 
length  she  consented  to  receive  him.  Throwing  himself 
upon  his  knees  before  her  and  bursting  into  floods  of 
tears,  he  entreated  her  to  forgive  him  and  to  aid  him  in 
conceaHng  the  past.  She  replied  with  dignity  that  she  had 
been  basely  deceived,  and  desired  that  the  Comte  de  Guiche 
should  be  made  acquainted  with  the  truth;  and  forthwith, 
in  spite  of  lamentations  and  entreaties,  dismissed  him  from 
her  presence.  Happily  for  herself  she  had  resolutely  decHned 
to  accept  the  missive  from  Guiche,  for  his  infamous  agent 
had    told    the   King    of   its    existence  and  had  confidently 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  259 

predicted   that   she   would  take   it   in   violation   of  all  her 
promises. 

Hitherto  Madame  had  spared  her  enemies,  and  had  even 
protected  La  Valliere,  their  weak  and  helpless  instrument; 
but  it  would  have  been  a  mark  of  superhuman  magnanim- 
ity or  of  a  pitiful  lack  of  spirit  to  submit  tamely  to  the 
villainies  of  Vardes.  Already  he  had  given  her  sufficient 
provocation,  and  now  his  impotent  fury  vented  itself  in 
open  insult.  One  day  the  Queen  and  her  Court  were 
twitting  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine  with  a  tender  passion 
for  one  of  Madame's  maids-of-honour,  when  Vardes  remarked 
with  a  leer  that  he  might  as  well  have  aspired  to  the 
mistress  instead  of  contenting  himself  with  the  maid.  It 
was  only  natural  that  so  outrageous  an  affront  should 
provoke  the  vehement  indignation  of  Henrietta,  and  it  was 
by  her  request  that  its  author  was  lodged  in  the  Bastille. 
But  his  incarceration  was  a  triumph  rather  than  a  punish- 
ment, for  his  many  acquaintances  flocked  to  visit  him,  and 
his  friends  presumptuously  boasted  that  Madame,  in  spite  of 
all  her  influence,  was  powerless  to  get  him  really  disgraced. 
"The  thing  is  so  serious,"  she  writes  in  a  plaintive  letter 
to  Charles,  "  I  feel  that  it  will  influence  all  the  rest  of  my 
life.  If  I  cannot  obtain  my  object,  it  will  be  a  disgrace 
to  feel  that  a  private  individual  has  been  able  to  insult 
me  with  impunity,  and  if  I  do,  it  will  be  a  warning  to  all 
the  world  in  future,  how  they  dare  to  attack  me. ...  As 
I  have  already  told  you,  it  is  a  business  which  may  have 
terrible  consequences  if  this  man  is  not  exiled.  All  France 
is  interested  in  the  result,  so  I  am  obliged  to  stand  up  for 
my  honour."  ^  That  Henrietta  should  have  invoked  her 
brother's  aid  shows  how  grave  was  her  apprehension  as 
to  the  issue   of  the    duel.     She  did  not  know  that  Louis, 

'  Here,  and   in   most   other  cases  where   I  have   quoted  from  Henrietta's 
correspondence,  I  have  adopted  Mrs.  Henry  Ady's  translations. 


26o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

aware  of  the  deception  which  had  been  practised  upon  him, 
was  about  to  mete  out  to  her  antagonist  the  punishment 
which  his  flagrant  crimes  deserved.  Vardes  was  removed 
from  the  Bastille  to  be  subjected  for  a  space  to  a  more 
rigorous  confinement  in  the  grim  citadel  of  Montpellier. 
Thence  he  was  ordered  to  his  paltry  government  of  Aigues- 
Mortes,  where  he  was  left  during  many  years  of  exile  to 
reflect  upon  the  fruits  of  his  insolence  and  treachery. 

Of  the  Comte  de  Guiche  little  more  need  be  said.  Hen- 
rietta had  long  ago  resolved  that  she  would  give  him  no 
further  encouragement,  and  he  was  still  vainly  striving  to 
shake  her  resolution  when  a  strange  chance  came  to  his 
aid.  In  January,  1665,  a  great  masked  ball  took  place  at 
the  house  of  the  Duchesse  de  Vieuville,  and  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Orleans  were  amongst  the  guests.  In  order 
that  their  identity  might  be  the  better  concealed  they 
assumed  the  simplest  costumes,  drove  in  a  hired  coach, 
and  made  a  random  choice  of  partners  from  amongst  a 
party  of  masks  who  arrived  at  the  same  moment  with  them- 
selves. The  cavalier  whom  Henrietta  thus  fortuitously 
selected  was  none  other  than  the  Comte  de  Guiche.  At 
the  same  instant  each  recognised  the  other,  and  stifling 
the  exclamations  of  surprise  which  started  to  their  lips, 
they  passed  silently  through  the  crowded  rooms  to  a  spot 
where  they  could  converse  unobserved.  There  was  much 
that  Guiche  wished  to  say,  but  he  knew  that  the  suspi- 
cions of  Monsieur  would  be  aroused  if  he  should  notice  his 
wife's  absence,  and  prudently  withdrew  when  only  a  few 
hurried  words  had  been  exchanged.  Henrietta,  much  agitated 
by  the  unlooked-for  interview,  followed,  and  prepared  to 
descend  the  staircase;  but  her  foot  slipped  on  the  top- 
most step,  and  a  serious  accident  must  have  ensued  had 
not  the  ubiquitous  Guiche  leapt  forward  and  caught  her 
in  his  arms. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  261 

They  were  to  meet  but  once  and  never  to  speak  with 
one  another  again,  for  Guiche  was  about  to  set  out  upon 
the  expedition  which  was  to  end  only  with  his  life.  On 
the  eve  of  departure  he  made  a  determined  attempt  to  bid 
his  Princess  farewell.  Disguising  himself  in  a  footman's 
livery,  he  took  his  stand  at  her  palace  gates,  to  await  the 
coming  of  her  Htter  and  approach  it  as  it  passed.  But  he 
had  dragged  himself  from  a  sick-bed  and  could  not  bear 
the  strain  of  so  rash  an  experiment;  and  when  the  litter 
came,  he  swooned  and  fell.  It  could  not,  of  course,  be 
supposed  that  a  Princess  would  give  heed  to  the  indis- 
position of  a  menial  servant,  and  Madame's  attendants  made 
haste  to  bear  her  away  from  the  scene  of  so  common- 
place an  occurrence. 

There  is  a  short  and  curious  sequel  to  the  wearisome 
tale.  In  i666,  a  pamphlet  was  published  in  Holland  which 
purported  to  give  a  full  and  true  history  of  the  amours  of 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  One  copy  reached  the  King  of 
France  and  was  placed  by  him  in  Madame's  hands.  It 
was  easy  to  foresee  the  effect  of  such  a  work  upon  a  jealous 
husband  and  an  uncharitable  and  scandal-loving  world,  and 
Henrietta  was  filled  with  despair.  The  conduct  of  the 
Bishop  of  Valence,  to  whom  she  appealed  for  help,  only 
increased  her  distress.  Without  offering  any  advice,  and 
with  the  full  knowledge  that  he  alone  had  been  informed 
of  her  sorrow,  he  mysteriously  disappeared,  and  for  ten 
days  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  When  at  length  he  re- 
appeared, he  showed  how  well  he  had  been  employed.  As 
soon  as  he  had  heard  of  the  predicament  in  which  Hen- 
rietta was  placed,  he  had  despatched  an  emissary  to  Holland 
who  had  procured  an  order  prohibiting  the  publication  of 
the  libel  and  had  bought  up  every  sheet  that  had  already 
issued  from  the  press.  With  these  concealed  beneath  his 
cassock   the    worthy    prelate  had   little   fear  of  Henrietta's 


262  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

reproaches.  Turning  to  his  hidden  weapon  of  defence,  he 
presented  her  with  copy  after  copy  of  the  obnoxious  work, 
remarking  as  he  did  so  that  no  hands  but  her  own  should 
be  trusted  to  commit  them  to  the  flames.  ^ 

It  is  upon  the  relations  which  existed  between  Henrietta 
and  the  Comte  de  Guiche  that  the  question  of  her  moral 
frailty  or  innocence  really  depends.  The  halo  of  romantic 
interest  which  has  been  cast  around  their  intimacy  has 
tended  to  deepen  the  obscurity  in  which  such  a  subject  is 
naturally  wrapped,  but  the  verdict  of  contemporaries  may 
be  set  forth  for  what  it  is  worth.  It  is  entirely  favourable 
to  Henrietta.  The  stern  Queen- Mother,  who  disapproved 
of  her  conduct,  "thought  her,  in  fact,  full  of  innocence." 
Madame  de  Motteville  reviewed  her  career,  and  could  find 
nothing  criminal  in  it.  Even  anonymous  pamphleteers 
accused  her  of  nothing  worse  than  folly.  The  Princess 
herself,  in  her  last  agony,  solemnly  assured  her  husband  that 
she  had  never  been  untrue  to  him.  Had  she  been  habitu- 
ally false  to  her  marriage  vows,  she  could  hardly  have 
made  such  a  statement  when,  knowing  herself  to  be 
at  the  point  of  death,  a  lie  must  have  expired  upon  her 
lips;  nor  could  the  friend  who  knew  the  secrets  of  her 
heart  have  ventured  to  place  it  upon  record.  It  must, 
however,  be  admitted  that  Henrietta  was  foolish,  injudicious, 
fond  of  being  admired,  eager  to  please.  Madame  de  la 
Fayette  herself,  whose  portrait  of  her  mistress  is  "  drawn 
by  Reverence  and  coloured  by  Love,"  does  not  attempt 
to  disguise  it.  Secure  in  her  own  consciousness  of  virtue 
and   forgetting  that   innocence   is    not  always  its  own  pro- 

1  Madame  followed  his  advice.  Two  copies  only  had  eluded  the  vigilance 
of  the  Bishop's  agent — namely,  the  copy  in  the  possession  of  Louis  XIV.  and 
another  which  had  been  sent  to  Charles  II.,  and  these  were  handed  over  by 
their  owners  and  shared  the  fate  of  the  rest.  The  holocaust  was  then  com- 
plete but  for  one  copy  which  the  Bishop  had  secretly  preserved  as  a  curiosity. 
It  would  seem  that  before  his  death  this  too  was  destroyed. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  263 

tection,  Henrietta  scorned  to  pay  a  scrupulous  regard  to 
appearances.  Indeed,  it  is  to  her  very  indiscretion  that 
M.  Anatole  France  attributes  her  success.  "EUe  a  un 
certain  air  languissant,  et  quand  elle  parle  a  quelqu'un,  .  . . 
on  dirait  qu'elle  demande  le  coeur,  quelque  indifferente 
chose  qu'elle  puisse  dire.  *  On  dirait  qu'elle  demande  le 
ccBur,^  voila  le  secret  de  Madame,  le  secret  de  ce  charme 
qui  agit  sur  tous  ceux  qui  la  virent  et  qui  n'est  pas  encore 
rompu:  j'en  appelle  a  tous  ceux  qui  ont  essaye  de  reveiller 
son  souvenir." 

After  the  rupture  with  Vardes  and  the  final  departure  of 
Guiche,  Henrietta  turned  her  attention  to  affairs  of  a  more 
abiding  interest  than  the  annals  of  a  Court  intrigue. 
It  is  her  political  influence  that  constitutes  for  the  historian 
of  England  the  main  interest  of  her  career.  "The  chief 
agent  between  the  EngHsh  and  French  Courts,"  says 
Macaulay,  **  was  the  beautiful,  graceful,  and  intelligent  Hen- 
rietta, Duchess  of  Orleans  "  ;  and  it  is  in  this  character  that 
she  will  dwell  in  the  memory  of  the  English  reader,  either 
as  a  confederate  in  a  nefarious  conspiracy,  or  perchance  as 
a  pleasing  vision  suddenly  coming  to  illumine  the  dark 
story  of  the  Treaty  of  Dover,  and  passing  as  suddenly 
away  under  a  veil  of  mystery  which  he  cannot  penetrate. 
She  already  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  conduct  of 
international  concerns,  for  the  sovereigns  of  England  and 
France  had  early  realized  how  advantageous  it  might  be 
to  employ  her  as  an  intermediary  in  their  negotiations,  in 
which  they  had  frequently  been  harassed  by  the  incom- 
petence and  folly  of  their  political  agents.  Lord  Hollis,  the 
ambassador  of  Charles,  had  shown  himself  punctilious,  irri- 
table, and  exacting,  tenacious  of  the  smallest  right,  roused 
by  the  merest  trifle,  and  so  little  amenable  to  reason  that 
he  had  converted  even  the  preliminaries  of  his  presentation 


264  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

to  the  French  King  into  a  fruitful  source  of  dispute.  It 
had  often  taxed  the  dexterity  of  Madame  to  counteract 
the  effect  of  his  behaviour,  but  she  had  availed  herself  of 
his  impracticable  qualities  to  get  into  her  own  hands  the 
conduct  of  every  important  negotiation. 

After  the  arrival  of  Hollis  the  inimical  attitude  of  Eng- 
land towards  the  United  Provinces  was  the  salient  feature 
of  the  political  situation.  The  jealousy  between  these  old 
commercial  rivals  had  been  embittered  by  serious  friction 
in  their  colonial  settlements,  and  a  warlike  temper  prevailed 
[1664].  Charles  was  eager  for  a  quarrel.  In  the  days  of 
his  exile  the  Dutch  had  driven  him  from  their  territories; 
when  he  was  a  king,  their  victorious  fleets  had  bidden  him 
defiance  almost  at  the  entrance  of  his  capital.  Their 
overwhelming  naval  power  and  the  arrogance  of  their  lan- 
guage humiliated  him  ;  he  hated  their  republican  govern- 
ment, their  democratic  religion,  and  the  simple  manners 
which  put  to  shame  the  elegant  corruption  of  his  own. 
Before  he  could  safely  attempt  to  indulge  his  animosity, 
however,  he  must  ascertain  whether  Louis  intended  to  re- 
spect the  treaty  by  which  he  was  pledged  to  support  the 
Republic.  Writing  to  Henrietta  that  he  "would  not  have 
this  businesse  passe  through  other  hands"  than  hers,  he 
begged  her  to  use  her  best  endeavours  to  extract  an  assur- 
ance from  Louis  that  he  would  desert  the  Dutch  in  the 
event  of  England  declaring  war  upon  them.  When  that 
event  took  place,  however,  Louis  proved  inflexible,  and  after 
protracted  negotiations  [1664 — 1666]  war  between  England 
and  France  was  also  declared.  Had  Henrietta  known  in 
what  spirit  the  war  was  to  be  waged,  the  failure  of  her 
diplomacy  would  have  filled  her  with  no  very  sombre 
forebodings,  for  it  did  nothing  to  disturb  the  friendship 
which  at  bottom  subsisted  between  the  belligerent  monarchs. 
Louis,    however,    was  now  meditating  the  adoption  of  a 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  265 

startling  policy.  Its  immediate  effect  was  to  produce  a 
panic  in  the  breasts  of  the  English  people  which  Charles 
was  powerless  to  withstand.  Sincerely  though  they  hated 
the  Dutch,  they  were  possessed  by  a  chronic  terror  of 
France,  and  at  the  first  sign  of  French  aggression  in  the 
Netherlands  they  were  prepared  to  throw  themselves  into 
the  arms  of  their  old  rivals.  Such  a  sign  they  now  detected. 
By  the  treaties  of  Westphalia  and  the  Pyrenees  France 
had  attained  her  coveted  boundaries  towards  the  East  and 
South,  but  on  the  North  she  was  hemmed  in  by  an  artificial 
and  imperfect  frontier.  To  remedy  the  defect  at  the 
expense  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  was  now  the  aim  of 
the  French  King,  but  he  had  only  to  reveal  his  intention 
to  raise  a  ferment  of  indignation  and  alarm  [1667].  Their 
old  jealousies  forgotten,  a  Triple  Alliance  was  hastily 
negotiated  between  England,  Sweden,  and  Holland.  For 
the  moment  unprepared  to  face  the  coalition  Louis  accepted 
the  terms  of  the  allies  and  signed  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
[1668];  but  his  projects  were  postponed  and  not  abandoned. 
His  enemies,  indeed,  were  soon  to  regret  the  very  success 
upon  which  they  now  prided  themselves.  Delay  whetted 
his  appetites,  and  he  soon  embraced  a  policy  in  which 
the  acquisition  of  the  Netherlands,  once  the  goal  of  his 
ambition,  was  merely  a  necessary  but  unimportant  prelude 
to  the  conquest  of  Holland  itself  The  new  scheme  was 
something  more  than  the  wild  imagining  of  an  angered 
and  imperious  despot.  He  would  have  to  reckon  with 
the  opposition  of  the  continental  powers,  but  he  might 
safely  encounter  it.  Sweden  was  impoverished,  Germany 
divided,  and  the  Hapsburgs  had  emerged  from  a  lengthy 
strife  bereft  of  resources  and  prestige.  He  would  have 
little  to  fear  from  the  wrath  of  Europe  if  only  he 
could  procure  the  friendship  or  at  least  the  neutrality  of 
England.     To   do   so  was  therefore   the  paramount  object 


266  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  his  policy.  For  the  fact  that  she  had  so  recently  and 
so  pubhcly  pledged  herself  to  make  common  cause  with 
his  foes,  he  cared  but  little.  The  cynical  immorality  of 
her  statesmen  was  well  known  to  him,  and  there  was  no- 
thing which  he  might  not  hope  to  obtain  from  a  fickle 
and  shameless  King  and  a  corrupt  and  greedy  Court. 

The  ministry  which  he  must  cajole  or  suborn  was  already 
divided.  There  was  a  party  lead  by  ArHngton,  who,  as 
the  husband  of  a  Dutch  lady  and  as  the  advocate  of  the 
balance  of  power,  was  the  declared  opponent  of  the  French 
alliance;  and  it  had  seemed  of  late  that  the  real  confi- 
dence of  the  King  and  the  real  power  in  the  Cabinet  be- 
longed to  that  diligent,  astute,  and  circumspect  minister. 
But  French  diplomatists  had  remarked  the  desires  and 
hesitations  of  Charles,  and  they  could  count  upon  the  sup- 
port of  the  Buckingham  faction  which  was  eager  for  the 
friendship  of  their  master.  The  poverty  of  Charles  and 
the  parsimony  of  a  disaffected  Parliament  soon  brought 
about  the  triumph  of  Louis,  and  it  was  openly  announced 
in  England  that  a  commercial  treaty  was  to  be  negotiated 
with  France.  But  this  was  by  no  means  all.  In  concert 
with  Madame  and  with  some  few  of  his  most  trusted  ser- 
vants Charles  was  busily  engaged  in  discussing  the  details 
of  a  secret  treaty,  by  which  he  was  to  bind  himself  to 
assist  Louis  against  the  Dutch  in  return  for  a  handsome 
bribe  and  for  the  promise  of  French  help  when  he  should 
set  about  establishing  Popery  and  autocracy  in  his  own 
dominions.  Grave  difficulties  arose  in  the  course  of  the 
negotiations.  In  the  first  place  it  was  not  easy  to  decide 
which  should  have  the  priority,  the  subversion  of  the  Eng- 
lish Church  and  constitution,  or  the  extinction  of  the  United 
Provinces.  In  the  second,  some  dispute  arose  as  to  the 
proportions  which  the  French  subsidy  was  to  assume. 
Rumours   of  the  negotiations  had  got  abroad  in  England; 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  267 

the  ardour  of  the  opponents  of  royal  authority  had  been 
curbed ;  and  the  Commons  had  become  unexpectedly  docile. 
Charles  availed  himself  of  their  docility  to  gain  both  political 
and  financial  successes,  and  when  once  his  internal  position 
was  stronger  and  his  treasury  less  exhausted,  he  was  able  to 
invent  delays  to  spur  the  generosity  of  Louis.  He  declared 
that  the  naval  contribution  required  of  him  against  the 
Dutch  was  beyond  the  powers  of  his  purse,  and  vowed 
that  he  must  perforce  maintain  an  attitude  of  neutrality  at 
least  during  the  earlier  stages  of  the  contest.  At  last  both 
monarchs  agreed  that  they  would  endeavour  to  compose 
their  differences  by  invoking  the  assistance  of  Madame. 
Long  ago  Buckingham  had  told  Colbert  that  the  surest  way 
to  bring  about  an  alliance  was  to  induce  the  Duchess  to 
visit  England.  Charles  now  revived  the  idea  which  had 
already  occurred  to  his  favourite.  On  January  2nd,  1670, 
he  let  Colbert  know  that  "he  longed  eagerly  to  see  and 
converse  with  his  sister  next  spring,  and  hoped  the  King 
would  permit  her  to  visit  this  country":  and  Louis  replied 
that  he  would  do  his  utmost  to  overcome  the  difficulties 
which  stood  in  the  way  of  arranging  the  visit. 

Such  difficulties  as  there  were  arose  from  the  obstinate 
refusal  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  sanction  the  proposal. 
His  relations  with  his  wife  had  been  more  than  usually 
strained.  He  had  fallen  under  the  dominion  of  the  most 
worthless  of  all  his  favourites,  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine, 
a  man  with  the  face  of  an  angel,  indeed,  but,  as  unfortunate 
maids-of-honour  had  discovered,  without  any  other  trace 
of  celestial  qualities.  With  this  minion,  whose  every  whim 
and  caprice  Monsieur  was  only  too  eager  to  gratify, 
Henrietta  had  become  engaged  in  a  distasteful  contest. 
He  had  procured  the  exile  of  the  Bishop  of  Valence  and 
the  dismissal  of  Madame  de  Saint  Chaumont,  the  truest 
and   best  of  her  friends;  and  elated  by  the  success  of  his 


268  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

manoeuvres  he  had  treated  the  Duchess  herself  with  an 
intolerable  combination  of  insolence  and  contempt.  The 
King  at  length  had  been  constrained  to  intervene.  By  his 
orders  the  Chevalier  was  arrested  and  imprisoned.  **  You 
will  need  all  your  piety,"  wrote  the  Duchess  to  Madame 
de  Saint  Chaumont,  ''to  enable  you  to  resist  the  tempta- 
tion, which  the  arrest  of  the  Chevalier  will  arouse  in  you, 
to  rejoice  at  the  evil  which  has  befallen  your  neighbour  1 
You  will  soon  hear  how  violently  Monsieur  has  acted,  and 
I  am  sure  you  will  pity  him  in  spite  of  the  ill-treatment 
which  you  have  received  at  his  hands."  The  Duke  was 
beside  himself  with  fury.  Persuaded  that  his  wife  had 
brought  about  the  Chevalier's  ruin,  he  hurried  her  off 
to  Villers-Cotterets,  hoping  it  would  be  some  revenge  to 
condemn  her  to  a  solitude  only  diversified  by  his  own 
company.  His  motives  were  not  misconstrued.  Writing 
to  inform  Marshal  Turenne  of  her  departure,  Madame  said 
to  him:  *'You  will  understand  what  pain  I  feel  from  the 
step  which  Monsieur  has  taken,  and  how  little  compared 
with  this  I  mind  the  weariness  of  the  place,  the  unpleasant- 
ness of  his  company  in  his  present  mood,  and  a  thousand 
other  things  of  which  I  might  complain." 

No  sooner  had  she  departed  than  the  Court  began  to 
bemoan  her  absence.  "  Since  Madame  has  left  us,"  wrote 
Madame  de  la  Suze  to  one  of  Henrietta's  ladies,  "joy  is 
no  longer  to  be  seen  at  Saint  Germain, . . .  and  unless  she 
returns  soon  I  cannot  think  what  we  shall  do  with  our- 
selves. Nobody  thinks  of  anything  else  but  of  writing  to 
her,  and  the  ladies  of  the  Court  are  to  be  seen,  pen  in 
hand,  at  all  hours  of  the  day.  I  hope  you  will  soon  return, 
and  with  you  the  Graces,  who  always  follow  in  Madame's 
train."  In  the  critical  stage  which  the  negotiations  with 
England  had  now  reached,  Louis  relished  his  brother's 
conduct    even    less    than  did  his  courtiers,  and  as  soon  as 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  269 

Monsieur  had  had  leisure  to  repent  of  his  precipitate 
retreat  from  Court,  he  despatched  Colbert  to  Villers-Cotterets 
to  see  if  he  could  be  induced  to  patch  up  the  quarrel. 
Informing  him  that  the  Chevalier  de  Lorraine  had  been 
released  from  prison  and  was  free  to  go  whithersoever  he 
would  save  only  to  the  Court,  the  minister  proceeded  in 
his  master's  name  to  desire  the  Duke  to  return  to  Saint 
Germain.  The  request  accorded  too  well  with  Monsieur's 
secret  inclinations  to  be  the  subject  of  much  debate,  and 
before  evening  he  and  his  Duchess  had  set  out  for  Paris 
(Feb.  24th,  1670).  A  complete  reconciliation  between  them 
was  therefore  supposed  to  have  been  achieved,  but  the 
behaviour  of  Monsieur  scarcely  warranted  the  supposition. 
He  was  still  inflexible  in  his  resolution  to  see  whether  a 
course  of  tyranny  would  not  drive  his  wife  into  consenting 
to  the  recall  of  his  exiled  minion.  "  He  never  sees  me," 
she  complained,  "  without  reproaches, ...  he  sulks  in  my 
presence,  and  hopes  that,  by  ill-treating  me,  he  will  make 
me  wish  for  the  Chevalier's  return.  I  have  told  him  that 
this  kind  of  conduct  will  never  answer."  On  the  other 
hand,  the  King  received  her  with  unprecedented  honour,  and 
loaded  her  with  marks  of  confidence  and  affection.  Superb 
gifts  were  showered  upon  her,  apartments  adjoining  his  own 
were  placed  at  her  disposal;  he  devoted  every  afternoon 
to  conferences  with  her,  and  would  frequently  take  her 
advice  upon  domestic  problems  independently  of  his  ministers. 
The  projected  alliance  with  Charles  also  called  for  much 
earnest  discussion.  It  was  now  definitely  agreed  that 
Henrietta  should  go  to  England,  but  Monsieur  had  dis- 
covered the  secret  nature  of  her  impending  mission  and 
was  extremely  mortified  at  having  been  excluded  from 
participating  in  the  plot.  At  first  he  vehemently  declared 
that  Henrietta  should  not  leave  Paris;  then  he  relented  so 
far  as  to  say  that  she  might  visit  Charles  if  he  himself  were 


270  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

allowed  to  accompany  her.  Charles  immediately  devised 
the  most  specious  pretexts  for  declining  the  unwelcome 
honour,  but  it  was  idle  to  aim  at  conciliating  so  obstinate 
a  creature,  and  Louis  peremptorily  commanded  him  to  desist 
from  all  further  mention  of  refusal,  since  Madame's  journey 
was  for  the  good  of  the  State  and  therefore  was  to  be 
neither  prevented  nor  postponed.  The  imperious  monarch 
was  not  to  be  jested  with  when  he  adopted  this  solemn 
tone,  and  Monsieur  reluctantly  yielded.  By  the  morning 
of  May  25,  Henrietta  had  been  installed  in  the  Castle  at 
Dover,  which  had  been  prepared  for  her  reception. 

No  time  was  to  be  lost  if  she  was  to  justify  the  expecta- 
tions which  Louis  had  based  upon  her  dexterity  and 
influence.  It  was  more  than  probable  that,  in  spite  of  the 
docility  of  Charles,  the  execution  of  her  programme  would 
be  attended  by  many  and  grave  difficulties.  In  her  own 
name  and  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  France  she  was 
to  urge  the  expediency  of  introducing  the  Roman  CathoHc 
religion  and  of  reviving  the  absolute  power  of  the  Crown. 
When  circumstances  should  be  propitious  for  making  so 
astounding  a  revelation,  Charles  himself  was  to  make  a 
pubHc  profession  of  his  belief  in  the  Roman  Catholic  creed. 
In  the  meantime  the  policy  which  Henrietta  advised  him 
to  pursue  was  to  "flatter  the  English  Protestant  Church, 
and  by  alternately  coaxing  and  persecuting  Dissenters  to 
render  them  at  last . . .  .subservient  to  his  will."  Then,  turning 
to  foreign  affairs,  she  advocated  the  adoption  of  equally 
startling  measures.  She  urged  Charles  to  ally  himself  with 
France  against  his  old  commercial  rivals,  the  Dutch,  and 
to  bind  himself  to  support  the  claims  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon  to  the  dominions  of  the  Spanish  Crown.  Should 
he  undertake  to  follow  the  course  which  she  had  indicated, 
she  assured  him  that  Louis  would  be  prepared  to  assist 
him  in  the  event  of  domestic  insurrection  and  in  any  event 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  271 

to  replenish  his  impoverished  exchequer  with  no  grudging 
or  niggardly  hand.  **  She  concluded  her  harangue,"  wrote 
one  who  was  present  at  the  meeting,  "  and  spoke  the  rest 
with  an  eloquence  of  a  more  transcendent  kind,  and  which, 
though  dumb,  infinitely  surpassed  the  force  of  her  reason 
or  of  her  more  charming  words."  **The  wonderful  pathe- 
ticalness  of  her  discourse"  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
her  brother's  mind,  and  she  disposed  so  effectually  of  the 
few  objections  which  he  ventured  to  urge  that  before  a 
week  was  over  she  had  obtained  his  signature  to  the  treaty. 
No  material  changes  had  been  made.  It  provided  that  the 
King  of  England  should  at  his  own  pleasure  make  a  public 
declaration  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  in  consideration 
of  which  he  was  to  receive  2,000,000  crowns  from  the  King  of 
France  within  the  next  six  months;  that  the  Treaties  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  and  of  the  Triple  Alliance  should  be  faith- 
fully observed ;  that  the  King  of  England  should  assist  the 
King  of  France  in  asserting  any  new  rights  to  the  Spanish 
monarchy  which  might  revert  to  him;  that  the  two  Kings 
should  declare  war  against  the  United  Provinces,  France 
attacking  them  by  land  with  the  aid  of  6,000  English 
troops,  the  Duke  of  York  attacking  them  by  sea,  in  com- 
mand of  the  combined  naval  forces  of  the  two  countries; 
that  the  English  spoil  should  be  Walcheren,  Cadzand,  and 
the  mouth  of  the  Scheldt ;  that  the  interests  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange  should  be  provided  for;  and  finally,  that  the 
unfinished  commercial  treaty  should  be  concluded  with  all 
possible  expedition. 

The  Secret  Treaty  of  Dover  is  not  amongst  the  incidents 
in  our  history  upon  which  we  are  wont  to  look  back  with 
pride  or  pleasure,  and  the  Princess  who  negotiated  it  has 
met  with  much  severe  criticism  at  the  hands  of  English 
writers.  It  cannot  indeed  be  disputed  that  the  introduction 
of  Popery  was  a  wild  design  on  the  troubled  morrow  of  a 


272  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

revolution;  nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  direct  results  of 
the  clandestine  compact  were  the  humiliation  of  Holland 
and  the  exaltation  to  its  zenith  of  the  power  and  glory 
of  France.  But  the  apologist  of  Henrietta  will  not  be 
silenced  by  the  denunciations  of  her  detractors.  If  it  be 
argued  that  the  sister  of  Charles  should  have  shrunk  from 
engaging  him  in  an  alliance  so  pernicious  to  the  interests 
of  his  country,  he  may  reply  that  as  a  French-woman  and 
as  the  grand -daughter  of  Henri  IV.  she  could  not  but  desire 
a  treaty  which  should  permit  her  brother-in-law  to  carry 
on  the  career  of  conquest  that  had  been  interrupted  by 
the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  He  may  go  further  than 
this.  He  may  urge  that,  so  far  from  intending  to  betray 
her  country  or  its  King,  she  believed  herself  to  be  erecting 
their  fame  and  prosperity  upon  indestructible  foundations. 
Had  she  not  the  express  assurance  of  Louis  that  the  sub- 
jects of  Charles  were  to  be  rewarded  with  the  commerce 
of  the  world?  Louis  indeed  was  to  conquer  the  land,  but 
was  not  England  to  be  mistress  of  the  seas?  What  would 
it  matter  that  France  ruled  continental  Europe  when  Eng- 
land, availing  herself  of  the  alliance  to  take  the  place  of 
Spain  and  Holland,  was  to  become  the  empress  of  the 
world?  As  regards  the  religious  question,  Henrietta  was 
deceived  by  the  history  of  the  last  two  centuries.  Not 
only  had  she  been  taught  from  her  youth  up  that  her  first 
care  should  be  to  work  for  the  conversion  of  a  heretic 
prince,  but  the  theories  which  had  for  so  long  prevailed 
concerning  the  relations  of  the  State  to  the  individual  in- 
spired her  with  the  notion  that  the  monarch  must  be  held 
accountable  for  the  religious  belief  of  his  people.  It  was 
therefore  her  obvious  duty  to  endeavour  to  establish  in 
her  brother's  dominions  the  faith  in  which  she  had  been 
reared ;  and  the  extraordinary  facility  with  which  her  com- 
patriots  had   consented   to   change  their  creed  in  the  past 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  273 

led  her  to  assume  that  her  task  would  not  be  difficult  of 
accomplishment.  Her  policy  was  dictated  in  part  by 
loyalty  to  her  Church,  but  mainly  by  love  of  her  kin- 
dred. That  sentiment  was  the  ruling  power  in  her  life. 
One  day  the  false  news  that  James  was  dead  had  almost 
killed  her:  she  had  laboured  for  Charles  through  health 
and  sickness,  through  joy  and  sorrow,  through  good 
report  and  through  evil.  Sensible,  zealous,  true,  and  with 
a  business  capacity  that  surprised  the  most  experienced 
statesmen,  she  had  often  given  the  best  of  counsel  both  to 
Louis  and  to  Charles.  When  Louis  had  hesitated  to  decree 
the  arrest  of  Fouquet,  she  had  told  him  that  he  lowered 
himself  by  showing  fear  of  his  minister.  When  French 
diplomatists  were  negotiating  for  the  purchase  of  Dunkirk, 
she  had  striven  earnestly  to  dissuade  Charles  from  con- 
senting to  so  humiliating  a  bargain.  Her  advice  was  sound. 
The  sale  of  Dunkirk  began  the  ruin  of  the  Stuarts. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  part  which  Madame 
played  in  the  negotiations  which  led  to  the  Treaty  of 
Dover,  it  must  be  admitted  that  one  incident  is  recorded 
which  does  her  the  highest  credit.  In  her  train  had  come 
the  now  notorious  Louise  de  Keroiiaille.  The  Breton 
maiden  with  her  beautiful  and  innocent  face  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  the  susceptible  Charles,  and  he 
begged  his  sister  to  allow  her  to  remain  in  England.  It 
was  the  only  favour  which  he  asked  of  her,  but  she  ab- 
solutely refused  to  grant  it.  The  girl  returned  to  her 
parents  by  Madame's  express  command;  nor  did  she  ven- 
ture to  accept  the  overtures  of  Charles  till  her  mistress 
was  dead.  ** Madame's  death,"  said  Bussy,  "has  been  the 
cause  of  la  Kerouaille's  good  fortune." 

On  June  12  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  sailed  from  Dover, 
and  a  few  days  later  she  reached  Saint-Germain.  There 
the  fame  of  her  diplomatic  mission  was  in  all  men's  mouths, 

18 


274  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

and  a  veritable  triumph  awaited  her.  The  Court  greeted  her 
return  with  unfeigned  delight,  while  the  King  received  her 
as  one  whom  he  delighted  to  honour.  No  one  knew  better 
than  he  how  important  her  undertaking  had  been,  with  what 
skill  it  had  been  conducted,  with  how  complete  a  success 
it  had  been  crowned,  and  from  him  her  services  met  with 
a  public  recognition  of  the  most  flattering  description.  In 
private  she  was  further  rewarded  by  other  and  more  sub- 
stantial tokens  of  the  royal  gratitude,  Louis  presenting  her 
with  a  large  sum  wherewith  to  redeem  the  jewels  which 
had  been  pawned  to  defray  the  cost  of  her  recent  journey. 
Monsieur,  however,  took  a  very  different  line :  he  had  taken 
offence  at  the  mere  notion  of  her  errand  and  now  his  envy  was 
increased  tenfold  by  the  honours  and  rewards  which  followed 
upon  its  successful  performance.  When  she  was  preparing 
to  go  with  the  Court  to  Versailles,  she  received  a  peremp- 
tory command  to  accompany  him  to  Saint  Cloud.  There 
was  no  alternative  but  obedience,  and  she  was  forced  to 
submit  with  the  best  grace  she  could,  however  severe  the 
ordeal  of  exchanging  the  brilliant  ovations  of  Paris  for  the 
solitude  of  Saint  Cloud,  and  the  humiliations  of  life  with 
Monsieur,  with  its  incessant  round  of  complaint,  tyranny, 
and  insult.  Once  only,  on  the  occasion  of  the  King's 
birthday,  was  she  suffered  to  visit  Versailles ;  and  then, 
having  been  consulted  by  Louis  upon  affairs  of  State  and 
surprised  in  earnest  conversation  with  him,  she  was  ruthlessly 
dragged  away  despite  remonstrances  and  tears. 

Upon  Henrietta's  return  from  Dover  it  was  observed  that 
both  her  health  and  her  spirits  had  revived  in  the  air  of 
her  native  land.  A  short  spell  of  the  Duke's  society 
revealed  the  illusory  character  of  the  seeming  recovery. 
So  ominous  was  the  change  that  came  over  her  appearance 
that  all  who  saw  her  at  Versailles  were  filled  with  appre- 
hension: "Madame,"  said  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  "has  death 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  275 

painted  on  her  face."  Always  frail  and  delicate,  her  health 
had  been  shattered  by  the  constant  strain  of  illness,  anxiety, 
and  fatigue.  The  gaiety  and  vivacity  of  earlier  days  had 
given  way  to  a  settled  gloom.  A  spell  of  sultry  heat 
prostrated  her;  a  pain  in  the  side,  till  now  slight  and 
intermittent,  had  become  persistent  and  acute.  On  June  27, 
in  accordance  with  her  usual  practice,  but  in  direct  defiance 
of  the  remonstrances  of  her  physicians,  she  bathed  in  the 
river  which  flowed  through  the  grounds  of  her  palace ;  but 
on  the  following  day  the  imprudent  pleasure  had  perforce 
to  be  relinquished.  On  Sunday,  June  29,  her  indisposition 
was  markedly  more  grave.  Early  in  the  afternoon  and  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  a  vigorous  conversation  was  being 
carried  on  by  those  around  her,  she  fell  into  a  profound 
slumber.  During  her  sleep  the  ladies  who  were  with  her 
noticed  with  astonishment  and  alarm  that  her  face  was 
strangely  altered :  when  she  awoke,  she  complained  that  the 
pain  in  her  side  was  more  violent  than  ever.  Her  favourite 
beverage,  a  glass  of  chicory  water,  was  made  ready  and 
brought  to  her.  In  the  act  of  stretching  out  her  hand  to 
put  down  the  cup,  she  was  seized  with  a  paroxysm  of 
pain.  A  cry  which  she  was  unable  to  stifle,  the  expression 
and  the  livid  colour  of  her  face,  and  the  tears  which  started 
to  her  eyes  revealed  the  extremity  of  her  anguish,  and  those 
who  knew  how  patient  and  courageous  she  was,  immediately 
realised  that  the  sudden  mischief  was  of  no  light  or  fanci- 
ful kind. 

In  the  general  panic  which  ensued  only  her  physician 
was  undismayed,  and  pronounced,  with  the  blind  assurance 
of  the  ignorant,  that  she  was  suffering  from  a  somewhat 
severe  colic.  Such  a  statement  might  convince  others,  but 
the  patient  herself  was  not  to  be  comforted.  She  was 
possessed  by  a  dark  and  terrifying  idea.  It  seemed  to  her 
that   only  the  agency  of  poison  could  account  for  anguish 


276  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

so  swift,  so  mysterious,  so  intolerable.  The  sinister  convic- 
tion gained  in  strength  from  the  very  efforts  that  were 
made  to  dispel  it.  Various  antidotes  were  administered, 
but  one  and  all  were  without  effect.  Distinguished  physi- 
cians declared  "on  their  lives"  that  there  was  not  the 
smallest  danger,  but  they  could  do  nothing  to  alleviate 
her  sufferings.  Clearly  she  was  at  the  point  of  death,  and 
it  was  idle  to  pretend  that  it  was  still  in  the  power  of 
remedies  to  prevent  or  even  to  retard  its  approach. 

Alarming  reports  of  her  illness  had  spread  abroad,  and 
throngs  of  anxious  enquirers  hastened  along  the  avenues  of 
Saint  Cloud.  All  night  long  the  sick-room  was  filled  with 
sorrowing  friends.  To  one  or  another  of  these  the  dying 
woman  from  time  to  time  addressed  a  few  gracious  words 
of  farewell.  Monsieur  came  and  stood  by  her  bedside. 
The  victim  of  his  cruel  tyranny  and  the  object  of  his  yet 
more  cruel  suspicion  was  at  length  nearing  that  tranquil 
haven  where  she  would  find  eternal  calm  from  those 

"troublous  storms  that  toss 
The  private  state  and  render  Hfe  unsweet." 

Embracing  him  in  her  own  sweet  and  gentle  way,  she  said: 
"Alasl  Monsieur,  you  have  long  ceased  to  love  me;  but 
that  is  unjust;  I  have  never  swerved  from  my  loyalty  to 
you."  Presently  the  King  himself  reached  the  palace, 
accompanied  by  his  Queen  and  other  ladies  of  the  Court. 
At  last  the  optimism  of  the  physicians  had  been  somewhat 
shaken,  and  they  now  confessed  to  a  beUef  that  Madame's 
illness  was  extremely  dangerous.  The  reserved  and  haughty 
prince,  who  believed  that  nothing  became  his  majesty  so 
ill  as  to  be  conquered  by  his  feelings,  strove  in  vain  to 
conceal  his  emotion  when  Henrietta  turned  to  him,  and 
bade   him   take  his   last   farewell.     *'You   are  losing,"  she 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  277 

said,  "a  very  good  servant  who  was  always  more  afraid 
of  losing  your  favour  than  ever  she  feared  death."  The 
chief  place  in  her  affections,  however,  and  the  most  tender 
of  her  thoughts  were  not  for  Louis  nor  for  any  in  his 
kingdom,  but  for  the  brother  whom  she  had  loved  and 
served  so  well,  and  she  charged  the  English  ambassador 
with  many  messages  for  his  master.  Tenderly  and  earnestly 
she  lamented  that  when  she  was  gone  Charles  would  have 
lost  the  friend  who  loved  him  best  in  all  the  world. 

In  the  meantime  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  who  realised  the 
gravity  of  Madame's  condition  and  was  shocked  by  the 
apathy  and  indifference  of  Monsieur,  had  been  endeavouring 
to  open  his  eyes  to  the  truth  and  to  awaken  him  to  a 
sense  of  his  duty.  She  reproached  him  with  having  so 
utterly  ignored  his  wife's  spiritual  needs,  and  urged  him  to 
summon  a  confessor  without  delay.  His  first  and  only  care, 
if  such  a  course  was  to  be  pursued,  was  to  find  a  priest 
whose  name  would  look  well  in  the  Gazette,  and  he  decided 
to  send  for  Bossuet.  But  Bossuet  was  in  Paris,  and  as 
some  time  must  necessarily  elapse  before  his  arrival,  Hen- 
rietta desired  that  one  of  the  canons  of  Saint  Cloud  might 
also  be  summoned  to  minister  to  her  till  the  bishop  should 
come.  Her  choice  fell  upon  a  man  called  Feuillet,  a 
Jansenist  who  enjoyed  some  renown  on  account  of  his 
austere  piety  and  of  the  uncompromising  indignation  with 
which  he  denounced  the  shortcomings  of  the  mighty  ones 
of  the  earth.  ^  Acting  promptly  in  response  to  her  call, 
he   had   soon   reached   the  palace.  The  spectacle  which  he 

1  M.  Alexis  Larpent  suggests  that  a  careful  investigation  might  result  in 
showing  that  towards  the  end  of  her  life  Madame  entertained  Jansenist  pro- 
pensities. In  a  letter  of  i6  July,  1670,  (quoted  by  the  historian  of  Port  Royal) 
Le  Camus  said  of  her:  "Elle  cherchait  la  verite  d'une  religion  et  n'etait 
encore  determinee  a  rien."  But  for  this  meagre  statement  I  have  searched 
the  authorities  in  vain  for  any  direct  allusion  to  her  religious  opinions;  but 
one  or  two  facts  are  recorded  which  seem  to  give  some  colour  to  M.  Larpenf  s 


278  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

there  beheld  would  have  melted  any  heart  not  turned  to 
adamant  by  the  influence  of  a  narrow  and  perverted  zeal. 
By  such  a  zeal,  however,  was  Feuillet  possessed,  and  he 
quelled  the  pity  which  the  sight  of  his  penitent  aroused, 
as  though  it  were  some  insidious  foe  creeping  within  the 
stronghold  of  his  faith.  His  duty,  as  he  conceived  it,  was 
to  bring,  not  solace,  but  rebuke,  not  to  comfort,  but  to 
chastise;  and  he  was  sincerely  convinced  that  his  conduct 
was  only  laudable  in  proportion  to  the  severity  of  his  speech. 
When  at  length,  with  every  mark  of  the  most  profound 
devotion,  Henrietta  had  received  the  last  consolations  of 
religion,  it  had  become  apparent  to  all  that  her  life  was 
fast  ebbing  away.  She  herself  awaited  the  end  with  manifest 
impatience.  "What!  Madame,"  exclaimed  Feuillet,  "you 
have  been  sinning  against  God  for  twenty-six  years,  and 
your  penitence  has  endured  but  for  six  hours."  To  this 
brutal  rebuke  the  Princess  submitted  with  all  humility ; 
and  asking  at  what  time  Our  Saviour  had  died,  prayed 
that  she  might  be  vouchsafed  the  grace  of  dying  at  the 
same  hour. 

Presently,  to  her  great  joy,  Bossuet  entered  the  sick-room. 
With  a  piety  not  less  sincere  than  that  of  Feuillet,  and 
with  tact  and  sympathy  of  which  the  Jansenist  was  wholly 
devoid  he  spoke  to  her  of  consolation,  hope,  and  peace. 
For  some  time  she  listened  attentively  to  his  words,  but 
weakness  and  pain  were  slowly  gaining  the  mastery  over 
her  indomitable  spirit.  Turning  to  him  with  a  sweet, 
resigned  smile,  she  craved  a  few  moments'  repose,  but 
scarcely    had    she   done   so  when  she  beckoned  to  him  to 


suggestion.  Many  of  her  more  intimate  friends  were  more  or  less  closely 
connected  with  and  under  the  influence  of  Port  Royal:  her  choice  of  Feuillet 
in  the  circumstances  narrated  above,  so  curious  in  itself,  is  all  the  more 
significant  in  the  light  of  Le  Camus'  statement:  and  it  is  strange  that  her 
memory  should  have  been  cherished  in  the  Jansenist  families  of  France. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  279 

return.  It  was  half-past  two  in  the  morning.  The  end 
was  at  hand.  A  strange  look  was  in  her  face,  the  pre- 
cursor and  harbinger  of  death.  Holding  a  crucifix  before 
her,  the  Bishop  said :  "  You  believe  in  God,  you  hope  in 
God,  you  love  Him."  Audibly  and  firmly  she  replied: 
"With  all  my  heart."  She  then  took  the  crucifix,  and 
pressed  it  tenderly  and  reverently  to  her  lips.  Almost 
immediately,  however,  it  fell  from  her  grasp;  she  had  lost 
consciousness;  and  with  a  slight  quiver  of  the  lips  her 
sprit  passed  quietly  away. 

Death  had  not  tarried :  only  a  few  short  hours  had  passed 
since  the  moment  of  her  first  attack,  and  now  his  purpose 
was  cccomplished.  The  Great  Visitor  had  come  to  her  in 
the  veiy  moment  of  triumph,  at  the  zenith  of  her  brilliant 
career,  while  her  powers  were  still  undiminished  and  her 
intellect  still  unimpaired ;  yet  she  had  faced  him  boldly  and 
had  received  him  without  flinching.  Never  even  during 
the  last  hours  of  excruciating  torture,  had  her  courage 
and  tranquillity  deserted  her.  She  had  borne  her  sufferings 
with  serete  fortitude  and  had  awaited  her  fate  with 
patient  resignation.  No  vain  regret,  no  weak  repining,  no 
querulous  complaint  had  marred  the  final  scene.  '*  Madame 
fut  douce  eavers  la  mort  comme  elle  I'etait  envers  tout 
le  monde." 

The  tidings  of  the  sudden  calamity  were  received  with 
consternation  'n  all  quarters,  and  wherever  she  had  been 
known  every  heart  was  chilled  by  a  sense  of  irreparable 
loss.  At  once  a  countless  multitude  of  panegyrics  were 
penned  in  her  praise  and  in  sorrow  for  her  untimely  death. 
She  had  passec  away,  wrote  Cardinal  Barberini,  "to  the 
infinite  grief,  not  only  of  France,  but  of  all  Europe." 
**  Never,"  said  the  witty  Rochester,  "was  anyone  so  regretted 
since  dying  was  the  fashion."  Never  assuredly  had  anyone 
been  more  regreted  by  the  Sovereigns  of  England  and  of 


28o  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

France,  for  she  had  served  them  with  a  fidelity  unalterable 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  and  their  amity 
and  alliance  were  justly  regarded  as  the  fruit  of  that 
loyal  service.  Louis  was  deeply  moved.  "The  tender 
love  I  had  for  my  sister,"  he  wrote  to  the  King  of 
England,  *'  was  well  known  to  you,  and  you  will  understand 
the  grief  into  which  her  death  has  plunged  me.  In  this 
heavy  affliction  I  can  only  say  that  the  part  which  1 
take  in  your  own  sorrow,  for  the  loss  of  one  who  was 
so  dear  to  both  of  us,  increases  the  burden  of  my  regret " 
Light-hearted  and  thoughtless  though  he  was,  even  Charles 
fell  a  prey  to  the  most  poignant  grief.  Yet  grief  was 
not  the  predominant  sentiment  in  the  breasts  of*  the 
King  or  of  his  subjects.  Everywhere  dark  rumouri  were 
current  that  the  English  Princess  had  fallen  a  victim 
to  the  machinations  of  some  dastardly  foe,  and  a  ferment 
of  passionate  indignation  ensued.  The  habituall^^  phleg- 
matic populace  of  London  reached  an  unwonted  pitch  of 
excitement.  The  streets  resounded  with  their  cries  of 
fury ;  it  was  feared  that  they  would  scarcely  be  restrained 
from  taking  a  summary  vengeance  upon  t'le  luckless 
ambassador  of  Louis;  and  acute  observers  believed  that 
the  wrath  of  the  nation  would  inevitably  lead  to  an  open 
rupture  with  France. 

Was  there  any  foundation  for  these  hideoas  suspicions, 
or  any  truth  in  the  dramatic  passage  where  St.  Simon 
accounts  for  Madame 's  death  by  setting  fortl,  with  a  wealth 
of  circumstantial  detail,  the  story  of  a  base  and  treacherous 
crime?  Since  the  most  distinguished  physcians  in  France, 
when  summoned  to  her  bed-side,  had  teen  helpless  in 
the  face  of  the  sudden  attack  which  had  prostrated  her,  it 
seemed  impossible  to  explain  the  phenomenon  on  any 
hypothesis  other  than  that  of  poison;  anc  it  certainly  was 
not  explained  by  the  tissue  of  absurdities  which  the  doctors 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  281 

who  performed  the  post-mortem  examination  brought  for- 
ward to  account  for  it.  Thus  the  death  of  Madame  went 
to  swell  the  fascinating  list  of  historical  riddles,  and  it  is 
only  within  our  own  time  that  it  has  been  dislodged  from 
the  debateable  ground.  In  the  two  centuries  and  more 
which  have  now  elapsed,  medical  science  has  made  great 
and  beneficent  strides,  and  with  the  searching  light  of  its 
ample  knowledge  it  has  dissipated  the  obscurity  which  so 
long  enveloped  the  subject.  Madame  was  not  killed  by 
poison:  she  died  of  an  acute  peritonitis.  On  no  other 
theory  is  it  possible  to  account  for  the  indisposition  which 
preceded  her  last  agony,  the  acute  pain  in  the  side  of 
which  she  so  frequently  complained,  the  paroxysm  which 
seized  her  as  she  swallowed  the  chicory  water,  the  asto- 
nishing rapidity  with  which  death  did  its  work,  and  the 
various  phenomena  which,  however  utterly  they  were  mis- 
understood, have  yet  been  elaborately  described  in  the 
reports  of  the  doctors  who  were  present  at  the  post-mortem 
examination.  To  assume  that  because  a  violent  pain  result- 
ing in  death  immediately  followed  upon  the  drinking  of 
the  chicory  water,  the  water  must  therefore  have  been 
poisoned,  is  to  forget  that  one  event  may  precede,  without 
being  the  cause  of,  another.  Yet  it  cannot  be  urged 
that  there  was  any  inherent  impossibility  in  the  theory  of 
poison ;  the  incarceration  of  the  man  in  the  Iron  Mask,  *  the 
narrow  escape  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  nefarious 
conspiracy  which  involved  an  innocent  queen  in  the  sordid 
incidents  that  make  up  the  affair  of  the  Diamond  Necklace, 

^  It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  Madame's  detractors  have  not  scrupled 
to  assert  that  the  mysterious  prisoner  was  no  other  than  a  son  of  hers 
either  by  Louis  or  by  the  Comte  de  Guiche.  Other  imaginative  theorists 
prefer  to  make  him  a  son  of  Cromwell,  a  son  of  Christine  of  Sweden  and 
Monaldeschi,  a  son  of  the  Grand  Monarque's  Queen  by  a  negro  servant, 
and  so  forth.  See  "The  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask"  by  Mr.  Tighe  Hopkins, 
p.  15  and  note. 


282  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

are  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  darkest  crimes  could  be 
perpetrated  in  the  Court  of  France  and  even  upon  the 
very  steps  of  its  throne.  ^ 

After  the  post-mortem  examination  had  been  performed, 
the  embalmed  remains  of  the  Princess  were  laid  out  in  a 
richly  decorated  coffin  in  the  chamber  where  she  had 
breathed  her  last.  Thence,  at  midnight  on  July  4,  they 
were  removed  to  the  spot  where  their  last  resting- 
place  was  being  made  ready.  Officers-at-arms  escorted 
the  hearse,  and  princesses  of  the  blood  followed  it.  The 
whole  of  Madame's  household  and  a  throng  of  noble  ladies 
swelled  the  procession.  Down  the  sombre  avenues  of 
Saint  Cloud  and  through  the  silent  streets  of  Paris  it 
passed  slowly  on  till  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Denis  was 
reached.  There,  watched  over  by  nuns  and  guarded  by 
troops,  the  body  was  left  for  a  space.  At  length,  on 
August  21,  the  last  ceremonies  were  performed  with  extra- 
ordinary pomp  and  splendour.     Seldom,  even  in  the  great 

1  But  the  theory  does  not  stand  investigation.  It  is  said  that  sublimate  was 
mixed  with  the  chicory  water.  But  the  water  itself  was  not  poisoned,  for 
others  besides  Henrietta  drank  it,  and  without  any  ill  effects.  Nor  is  it  conceiv- 
able that  the  lady  who  prepared  the  beverage,  aad  whose  loyalty  is  beyond 
reproach,  could  have  failed  to  remark  that  the  cup  had  been  tampered  with, 
had  such  been  the  case.  Moreover,  Madame  only  sipped  the  water  and  did 
not  complain  that  it  had  any  unusual  or  unpleasant  flavour;  but  sublimate 
is  comparatively  harmless  unless  consumed  in  large  quantities,  and  its  taste 
is  nauseating.  Finally,  the  circumstances  of  the  case  require  a  drug  which 
acts  with  lightning  rapidity  without  producing  any  perceptible  effect 
upon  the  mouth  and  throat  of  the  person  who  swallows  it.  Not  only  does 
sublimate  not  possess  those  properties,  but  no  such  drug  exists.  The  cir- 
cumstance that  the  doctors  were  unable  to  diagnose  the  disease  is  wholly 
without  importance.  Peritonitis  has  now  long  been  dreaded  as  one  of  the 
most  terrible  of  the  many  fleet  ministers  of  death,  but  at  that  period  its 
existence  was  unknown.  Moliere  may  have  exaggerated  the  pedantry  and 
formalism  of  the  doctors  of  his  time,  but  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
exaggerate  their  ignorance;  and  if  it  be  urged  that  Valot  and  Esprit,  the 
men  who  attended  upon  Madame,  were  the  most  learned  physicians  in  France, 
it  will  be  enough  to  reply  that  they  were  the  men  whose  likeness  Moliere 
drew  in  the  Tomes  and  Bahis  of  his  Amour  MecUcin. 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  283 

temple  where  so  many  royal  generations  had  been  laid  to 
rest,  had  such  an  august  and  solemn  spectacle  been  seen. 
Every  part  of  the  cathedral  was  draped  with  richly  broidered 
hangings  and  illuminated  by  the  blaze  of  countless  lights. 
Around  the  spot  where  the  body  lay  beneath  a  sumptuous 
canopy,  a  vast  and  illustrious  congregation  was  assembled. 
At  the  altar  stood  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  with  him 
were  four  Bishops  in  pontifical  robes.  In  the  pulpit  stood 
Bossuet.  Never  before  had  even  that  great  orator  pronounced 
so  sublime  a  discourse.  The  funeral  oration  upon  Queen 
Henrietta  had  indeed  shone  with  the  effulgence  of  his 
genius,  but  now  it  was  his  very  soul  that  poured  itself 
out.  "His  hearers  listened  in  breathless  silence,"  says 
Madame's  most  recent  biographer,  "as  he  spoke  of  the 
beauty,  of  the  talents,  of  the  irresistible  charm  which  had 
made  this  Princess  adored  by  all.  He  dwelt  on  her  rare 
gifts  of  mind,  on  her  fine  taste  in  art  and  letters,  on  the 
incomparable  sweetness  of  her  nature,  on  the  royalty  of 
heart  and  soul  which  made  this  daughter  of  Kings  even 
greater  than  she  was  by  birth.  He  extolled  the  services 
which  she  had  rendered  to  France,  the  love  and  honour 
in  which  she  was  held  by  the  two  greatest  Kings  of  the 
earth.  And  he  recalled  her  famous  journey  to  England, 
upon  which  so  much  had  depended,  the  success  which  had 
crowned  her  efforts,  and  the  joy  and  triumph  of  her  return." 
Then  he  spoke  of  those  short  but  terrible  hours  in  which 
the  tragedy  which  he  deplored  had  been  enacted.  "  O  nuit 
desastreusel  6  nuit  effroyablel  ou  retentit  tout  a  coup 
comme  un  eclat  de  tonnerre  cette  etonnante  nouvelle; 
Madame  se  meurtl  Madame  est  morte!"  What  did  it  avail 
them  that  she,  for  whom  they  grieved,  had  shown  no 
dismay  in  the  presence  of  that  appalling  calamity?  "Triste 
consolation,  puisque,  malgre  ce  grand  courage,  nous  I'avons 
perdue  1 , . .  La  voila,  malgre  ce  grand  cceur,  cette  princesse 


284  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

si    admiree    et  si  cheriel     La  voila  telle  que  la  mort  nous 
I'a  faite." 

When  the  preacher  paused  to  master  his  emotion,  a  storm 
of  sobbing  swept  over  his  audience ;  and  long  before  those 
mournful  sounds  were  hushed,  the  poor  remains  of  the 
gentle  Princess  had  been  committed  to  the  tomb  in  the 
spot  where  her  royal  kindred  slept. 


NOTE. 


Henrietta's  children  were: — (i)  Marie  Louise  d'Orleans, 
born  March  27,  1662;  married  against  her  will  to  Charles 
II.  of  Spain  in  1679;  after  ten  years  of  an  unhappy  married 
life,  died  suddenly,  like  her  mother,  under  circumstances 
that  were  considered  most  suspicious.— (2)  Philippe  Charles, 
Due  de  Valois,  born  July  16,  1664;  died  December  1666; — 
(3)  Anne  Marie,  Mademoiselle  de  Valois;  born  August  26, 

*  Authorities  for  the  life  of  Henrietta  may  be  given  as: — 
Madame  de  la  Fayette:  "Histoire  de  Henriette  Anne  d'Angleterre,"  with 
introduction  by  M.  Anatole  France.  Bossuet :  "  Oraison  Funebre  de  Henriette- 
Anne  d'Angleterre."  Memoirs  of  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  Mme.  de  Motteville, 
Daniel  de  Cosnac,  Abbe  de  Choisy,  Due  de  Saint-Simon.  Burnet:  "History 
of  His  Own  Time."  Cyprien  de  Gamache:  "Court  and  Times  of  Charles  I." 
Michelet:  Article  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  August  i,  1859.  Comte 
de  Baillon :  "  Henriette- Anne  d'Angleterre,  Duchesse  d'Orleans,  Sa  Vie  et  Sa 
Correspond ance  avec  Son  Frere  Charles  II."  Julia  Cartwright  (Mrs.  Henry  Ady): 
"Madame,  Memoirs  of  Henrietta,  Duchess  of  Orleans."  Mrs.  Everett-Green: 
Life  of  Henrietta  in  her  "Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  England."  Mignet: 
"Negociations  relatives  a  la  Succession  d'Espagne."  Littre:  "Medecine  et 
Medecins,"  the  article  entitled  "Henriette  d'Angleterre,  est-elle  morte  empoi- 
sonnee?"  P'unck-Brentano :  "Princes  and  Poisoners "  (Eng.  trans.),  chapter  on 
the  "Death  of  Madame."  Dr.  Cabanes:  Article  on  her  death  in  La  Revue 
Hebdomadaire  for  July  i,  1899,  References  to  Henrietta  may  also  be  found 
in  most  works  upon  the  period,  such  as  the  Memoirs  of  Ludlow,  de  Retz, 
Evelyn,  Conrart,  Dalrymple,  Reresby;  Pepys  "Diary";  Estrade,  "Negocia- 
tions " ;  Voltaire, " Siecle  de  Louis XIV." ;  Sainte Beuve,  "Port Royal" ;  Macaulay, 
"History  of  England";  Henry  Martin,  "Histoire  de  France." 


HENRIETTA,  DUCHESS  OF  ORLEANS  285 

1669;  married  in  1684  to  Victor  Amadeus  II.,  Duke  of 
Savoy,  afterwards  King  of  Sicily  and  Sardinia;  died  in 
1728.  From  the  youngest  of  these  children  is  descended 
Princess  Mary  of  Modena,  wife  of  Prince  Louis  of  Bavaria, 
who  is  at  the  present  time  the  lineal  representative  of 
Charles  I. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER 

GRAND-DAUGHTER  OF  JAMES   VI.    AND    I. 


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THE     ELECTRESS     SOPHIA. 


To  face  p.  289. 


THE  ELECTRESS  SOPHIA,   GRAND-DAUGHTER  OF  JAMES  I. 

The  Jacobite  legend  of  the  "wee  wee  German  Lairdie" 
whom  the  Act  of  Settlement  removed  from  his  spade  and 
his  kailyard,  to  place  on  the  throne  of  the  Stuarts,  has 
served  unduly  to  depreciate  the  position  in  European  poli- 
tics of  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  the  personality  of  the 
heiress  of  the  Protestant  succession.  '*  The  most  excellent 
Princess  Sophia"  of  the  Act  of  Settlement  has  been,  till 
recently,  regarded  as  the  fortunate  beggar  maiden,  who,  if 
she  had  lived  some  months  longer,  would  have  been  trans- 
formed into  a  Queen  by  the  Whig  party,  masquerading 
as  King  Cophetua.  The  Electress  of  Hanover  occupied  a 
more  important  place  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  than  was  pos- 
sible for  the  mere  puppet  of  the  Revolution  Whigs,  and 
she  had  other  interests  in  life  than  the  ambition  to  succeed 
Queen  Anne.  Naturally  and  inevitably,  the  prospects  of 
the  English  succession  were  of  importance  to  the  grand- 
daughter of  a  King  who  had  subordinated  his  entire  policy 
to  the  chance  of  obtaining  the  Tudor  inheritance ;  but  the 
feeling  of  personal  independence  is  much  more  conspicuous 
in  the  attitude  of  Sophia  of  Hanover  than  in  that  of  James 
of  Scotland.  Naturally,  too,  from  the  standpoint  of  an  Eng- 
lish reader,  the  most  important  dividing  line  in  the  personal 
history  of  the  Princess,  is  connected  with  the  Revolution 
of  1688,  and  we  propose  to  follow  this  line  of  demarcation. 

19 


290  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

While  the  House  of  Stuart  occupied  the  British  throne, 
Sophia  was  only  a  member  of  a  younger  branch  of  the 
Royal  Family;  with  the  Fall  of  her  cousin,  James  11. , 
she  came  to  hold  a  widely  different  position,  even  if  it 
is  true  that  English  historians  have,  to  some  extent, 
exaggerated  the  importance  which  she  assigned  to  that 
position. 


The  twelfth  child  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  was  born  in 
an  hour  of  hope,  if  also  of  danger.  About  three  months 
before  her  birth,  the  great  Swede,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  had 
intervened  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  spirit  of  Pro- 
testant Europe  had  been,  once  more,  aroused,  when  on  the 
14th  October,  1630,  there  came  into  the  world  the  infant 
who  was  to  be  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  that  illus- 
trious family  which  included  Rupert  and  Maurice  and  Eliza- 
beth, the  friend  of  Descartes.  The  name  Sophia  was  chosen 
for  her  by  lot,  from  among  a  number  of  Christian  names 
not  already  monopolized  by  one  or  other  of  her  brothers 
and  sisters,  and  in  connexion  with  her  alone  it  has  become 
memorable  in  English  history.  Her  early  years  were  spent 
at  Leyden,  apart  from  her  mother,  who  found,  in  her  dogs 
and  her  monkeys,  a  more  agreeable  solace  for  the  troubles 
of  her  chequered  career  than  her  infants  could  afford.  Of 
these  early  days,  spent  with  some  of  her  brothers,  Sophia 
herself  has  left  us  an  interesting  picture  in  her  fascinating 
*^' Memoirs,"  written  about  1680.  The  children  were  sur- 
rounded with  all  the  ceremony  of  a  German  Court;  nine 
profound  reverences  to  her  brothers  and  to  attendants  were, 
complains  Sophia,  the  accompaniment  of  the  dinner  hour 
every  day.  Her  caustic  pen  gives  us  a  somewhat  cruel 
description   of  her   governess,    Madame   de   Pies,  who   had 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  291 

stood  in  the  same  position  to  her  father,  the  Elector: 
"from  this  you  may  judge  her  age."  Madame  de  Pies 
was  assisted  by  two  daughters  '*  who  looked  older  than  their 
mother,  and  were  righteous  in  their  deahngs  with  God  and 
man  alike ;  they  wept  to  the  one  and  never  disquieted  the 
other,  car  leur  exterieur  estoit  horrible  et  fort  propre  a 
inspirer  de  la  terreur  aux  petits  enfans."  Modern  readers 
will  readily  admit  that  Sophia  had  considerable  justification 
for  the  savage  tone  of  these  references.  It  can  have  been 
no  pleasant  experience  to  rise  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  to  study  **Pibrac's  Precepts  for  the  Guidance  of  Man," 
while  her  instructress  performed  such  toilet  operations  as 
cleansing  her  teeth,  nor  is  it  marvellous  that  the  unfortunate 
pupil  adds  that  her  consequent  grimaces  **have  remained 
longer  in  my  memory  than  all  that  she  wished  to  teach 
me."  Throughout  the  day,  what  time  could  be  spared  from 
ceremonials,  was  given  to  instruction,  *' unless  a  kind  Pro- 
vidence sent  one  or  other  of  my  teachers  a  catarrh,  pour 
me  soulager."  There  was  no  room  in  the  household  economy 
for  the  spontaneity  of  childhood,  no  scope  for  the  irre- 
sponsibility of  vigorous  young  life.  Sophia  seems  to  have 
found  relief  for  her  high  spirits  only  in  devising  tricks  to 
irritate  her  blind  governess. 

The  group  of  children  at  Leyden  hadj;been  gradually 
growing  smaller.  Rupert  and  Maurice,  Elizabeth  and  Hen- 
rietta had  gradually  been  summoned  from  the  nursery  and 
the  schoolroom:  the  daughters  to  join  their  mother,  and 
the  sons  to  make  their  way  in  the  world.  At  last,  there 
were  left  only  Sophia  herself  and  her  younger  brother, 
Gustave,  who  had  been  born  shortly  before  the  death  of 
the  Elector  Palatine  in  1632.  The  unfortunate  boy  was 
in  delicate  health  from  his  birth  and,  in  January  1641,  he 
died.  Sophia  was  now  left  alone,  and  on  this  account, 
she    was    immediately    taken   from   Leyden  to  the  Hague, 


292  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

where  her  mother  and  sisters  were  residing ;  her  reflections 
on  leaving  Madame  de  Pies  and  her  early  home  are  but 
a  variation  on  the  familiar  theme  of  crabbed  age  and  youth, 
"car  entre  la  vieillesse  et  la  jeunesse  il  y  a  rarement  de 
la  sympathie."  The  hopes  which  gladdened  the  period 
of  Sophia's  birth  had  vanished  during  the  ten  years  spent 
by  the  child  in  the  nursery  at  Leyden.  The  fatal  month 
of  November  1632  had  seen  not  only  the  death  of  the 
Elector  Palatine,  but  also  that  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  on 
the  field  of  Lutzen.  The  chances  of  recovering  the  Pala- 
tinate seemed  now  but  small,  and  the  two  eldest  surviving 
sons  of  the  Winter  Queen,  Charles  Lewis  and  Rupert, 
were  prisoners  of  war,  the  one  in  Austria  and  the  other 
in  France.  Charles  I.  was  entering  upon  the  final  stage 
of  the  long  constitutional  struggle,  and  could  offer  no  help 
to  his  sister.  Such  were  the  circumstances  in  which  Eliza- 
beth was  living  at  the  Hague,  when  her  youngest  daughter 
was  released  from  the  trials  of  nursery  and  schoolroom,  and, 
in  childish  amazement,  imagined  that  she  had  received  a 
foretaste  of  the  joys  of  Paradise  in  the  pitiful  splendour  of 
an  exiled  Court.  Her  mother's  House  was  doomed  for 
nearly  two  centuries  to  experience  such  joys  as  fall  to 
Royalty  in  exile.  From  the  loss  of  the  Palatinate  in  1623 
to  the  death  of  Cardinal  York  in  1 807,  Europe  was  never 
(s^ve  for  the  period  of  the  Restoration)  without  the  spec- 
tacle of  one  or  another  of  the  Stuarts  holding  a  toy  court 
on  foreign  soil,  and  the  fate  of  the  younger  branch  was 
even  now  fast  pressing  upon  the  elder. 

The  troubles  of  her  House  had,  however,  but  small 
effect  upon  the  spirits  of  Sophia,  whose  childish  pranks 
served  to  amuse  her  elders ;  they  consisted  mainly  of  prac- 
tical jokes  of  a  kind  which  were  in  favour  at  the  court  of  her 
grandfather,  James  I.,  but  which  would  scarcely  bear  repetition 
to-day.     It    is   somewhat  surprising  that  Sophia,  writing  in 


THE     PRINCESS     ELIZABETH  ; 
DAUGHTER     OF     ELIZABETH     OF     BOHEMIA. 


To  face  p.  293. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  293 

later  life,  thought  them  worth  recording  at  all.  ^  Of  the  Court 
which  they  enlivened,  Sophia  has  given  us  an  interesting 
picture  in  her  "  Memoirs."  Regarding  her  mother  she  says 
but  little;  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  who  ruled  her  husband, 
seems  to  have  made  but  little  impression  upon  her  children. 
About  her  three  sisters,  Elizabeth,  Louise,  and  Henrietta, 
"  all  of  them  more  handsome  and  more  accomplished  than  my- 
self," she  writes  with  considerable  insight  and  no  trace  of 
jealousy.  The  most  interesting  of  the  three  was  Elizabeth,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Elector  and  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia.  Born 
in  161 9,  she  was  over  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  time  to 
which  the  ** Memoirs"  relate,  and  her  sister's  pen-portrait 
of  Madame  Elizabeth  paints  her  with  black  hair,  bright 
brown  eyes,  arched  eyebrows,  a  slender  aquiline  nose,  a 
small  rosy-lipped  mouth,  and  a  noble  forehead.  *'  She  loved 
study,  but  all  her  philosophy  was  unable  to  restrain  her 
annoyance  when,  at  certain  times,  the  circulation  of  the 
blood  gave  her  the  misfortune  of  a  red  nose,  which  she 
immediately  concealed  from  view.  I  remember  that  my 
sister,  the  Princess  Louise,  who  was  without  ceremony, 
asked  her,  at  such  an  unfortunate  moment,  if  she  was  ready 
to  go  to  the  Queen,  since  the  usual  time  had  come.  The 
Princess  Elizabeth  replied:  *Do  you  want  me  to  go  with 
this  nose?'  and  the  other  retorted  *Do  you  want  me  to 
wait  till  you  have  another  ?' "  Her  references  to  Elizabeth's 
philosophy  are  not  always  in  this  less  than  respectful  tone. 
"  She  was  very  learned,  she  knew  all  languages  and  all 
the  sciences,  and  maintained  a  continuous  correspondence 
with  M.  Descartes;  but  this  great  knowledge  rendered  her 

A  small  trick  played  upon  Sophia  may  serve  as  a  specimen : — "  Pour 
divertir  la  reine,  il  [un  Frangais,  Marigne]  m'ecrivit  une  lettre  au  nom  de 
tous  les  guenons  de  S.  Mte.  pour  m'elire  pour  leur  reine.  Cette  lettre  me 
fut  presentee  en  presence  de  beaucoup  de  monde  pour  voir  la  contenance 
que  je  ferois.  Mais  je  la  trouvois  trop  jolie  pour  m'en  facher  et  j'en  riois 
comme  les  autres."     *■'  Memoiren  d.  Herzogin  Sophie^''  ed.  Kocher. 


294  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

a  little  distraite  and  often  gave  us  cause  for  mirth."  Some 
of  Descartes'  letters  to  Elizabeth  have  been  preserved,  ^ 
and  the  relations  between  them  are  known  to  have  aroused 
the  jealousy  of  Christina  of  Sweden,  who,  later  on,  was  to 
^\v^  some  annoyance  to  Sophia  herself.  Elizabeth's  devo- 
tion to  intellectual  pursuits  led  to  a  rupture  with  her  mother, 
who  wished  her  to  marry  Wladislaus  VII.  of  Poland,  and, 
after  some  years,  she  entered  the  Lutheran  convent  of 
Herfort,  in  Westphalia,  of  which  she  was  Abbess  from 
1667  till  her  death  in  1680.  In  her  later  life,  she  fell 
under  the  influence  of  the  fanatic  Jean  Labadie,  and 
provided,  from  1670  to  1672,  an  asylum  within  her  domain 
at  Herfort  for  the  wandering  Labadists.  Sophia  wrote, 
with  some  bitterness,  after  his  death,  of  the  four  fat  pre- 
bends with  which  her  sister's  generosity  had  endowed  the 
ex-Jesuit. '  **  The  Princess  Louise,"  says  Sophia,  ''  was  less 
beautiful,  but,  to  my  mind,  her  disposition  rendered  her 
more  pleasant."  She  was  so  clever  an  artist  that  she 
could  depict  people  without  seeing  them,  but  **  while  paint- 
ing others  she  was  somewhat  given  to  neglecting  herself,'' 
thus  affording  occasion  for  a  small  witticism  of  James  Har- 
ington,  the  author  of  '*  The  Commonwealth  of  Oceana,'' 
who  compared  her  manner  of  dressing  to  the  painter  of 
antiquity,  who,  failing  to  represent  on  his  canvas  the  foam 
on  a  horse's  mouth,  lost  his  temper,  and  threw  his  brush  at  the 
picture,  thereby  producing  the  effect  desired.  Louise,  like  so 
many  possessors  of  Stuart  blood,  became  a  convert  to  Roman 
Catholicism;  at  Christmas,  1657,  she  fled  from  her  mother's 
house  to  a  Carmelite  convent  at  Antwerp,  and  thence  to 
her  Aunt,  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  at  the  convent  of  Chaillot. 
In    1660,    she   took    the    veil  at  Maubuisson,  of  which  she 

1   Qiuvres  de  Descartes,  ed.  Cousin,  vols.  ix.  and  x. 

'  Bodemann,  Briefe  d.  Kurfurstin  Sophie,  vol.  i.,  p.  258.    This  collection 
of  letters  is   elsewhere  quoted  as  '-Bodemann." 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  295 

ultimately    became    Abbess.     Her   conversion  did  not  lead 
her    to    adopt    ascetic    principles;    if,    as    Sophia   wickedly 
suggested,    Elizabeth   of  Herfort  entertained  the  Labadists 
because    such   hospitality    cost  little  and  made  a  great  im- 
pression,   no    such    reproach    could    be    made    against   the 
jovial    Louise    of  Maubuisson.     The  third  of  the  group  of 
sisters    described   in   the  "Memoirs"  was  Henrietta  Maria, 
four   years    younger   than  Louise,  and  by  seven  years  the 
junior    of   Elizabeth,    from   whom   she   differed   in  being  a 
blonde,    and    in   possessing   a  devotion  to  needlework  and 
preserves  rather  than  to  philosophy.    She  married,  in  165  i, 
Sigismund  Ragoczi,  Prince  of  Transylvania,  and  died  after  a 
wedded    life  of  five  months.     But  Herfort  and  Maubuisson 
and    Transylvania    were,    as  yet,    in  the  future;    Elizabeth 
was    just    commencing  her  correspondence  with  Descartes, 
and    Louise  her  studies  under  Honthorst,  when  Sophia,  at 
the    most    impressionable    period  of  life,   came  under  their 
influence.     Escape    from    her    governess    did  not  mean  an 
end  of  her  studies,  for  she  mastered  six  or  seven  European 
languages;  from  her  sister  EHzabeth  she  acquired  her  first 
interest    in    philosophical   discussion,    and    she  shared  with 
Louise    the    instruction,    in   painting,    of  Gerald  Honthorst. 
Sophia    was  never  more  than  an  amateur  philosopher,  and 
her    correspondence  with  Leibniz  cannot  compare  in  philo- 
sophical interest  with  that  which  passed  between  Elizabeth 
and    Descartes:    but    philosophical   and   theological  themes 
remained,  as  we  shall  see,  one  of  her  favourite  intellectual 
pastimes,    and    the    lessons  that  she  learned  at  the  Hague 
or    during    the   summer  residence  of  the  Court  at  Rhenen, 
helped    to    enrich    her    wonderful    old    age  at  the  Herren- 
hausen.     Of   herself   at    this    period    of  life,    Sophia  says: 
"  I  had  light  brown  hair  which  curled  naturally,   my  man- 
ner was  lively  and  easy,  my  figure  good  (though  not  very 
tall),  and  my  carriage  that  of  a  princess."    A  number  of  Eng- 


296  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

lishmen  made  their  appearance,  during  these  years,  at  the 
Court  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia, — among  them  James  Har- 
ington,  whose  joke  Sophia  has  recorded,  and  William, 
Lord  Craven,  '^  un  vieux  milord,  nomme  Craven,"  who 
became  the  most  devoted  friend  of  the  exiled  Queen. 
Sophia,  although  she  was  his  favourite,  treats  him  with 
scant  courtesy.  There  is  perhaps  a  trace  of  her  dialectical 
training  in  her  amusement  at  *'the  good  man's"  assertion 
that  he  could  think  of  nothing.  ''  II  ferme  en  meme  temps 
les  yeux  et  dit:  a  cette  heure  je  ne  pense  a  rien."  The 
"old  lord"  (he  was  not  yet  fifty)  kept  a  store  of  sweet- 
meats for  his  lively  favourite,  but  not  even  this  saved  him 
from  the  girl's  ill-concealed,  if  tolerant,  contempt.  Her 
references  to  this  benefactor  of  her  House  have  been  taken 
somewhat  too  seriously:  they  represent  only  a  flippant 
schoolgirl's  amusement  at  slight  eccentricities  of  manner, 
and  something  of  that  pride  of  birth  which  was  an  un- 
failing Stuart  trait.  For  Craven,  the  son  of  a  Lord  Mayor 
of  London,  was  without  noble  blood.  Forty  years  later, 
an  older  and  a  wiser  Sophia  made  the  son  of  a  Lutheran 
clergyman  her  confidential  friend. 

A  more  distinguished  visitor  than  Craven  arrived  at 
the  Hague  in  1642,  in  the  person  of  Henrietta  Maria  of 
England,  who  brought  with  her  the  Princess  Mary,  the 
betrothed  wife  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Sophia's  descrip- 
tion of  her  aunt  is  interesting:  **the  beautiful  portraits  of 
Van  Dyck  had  given  me  so  lovely  a  conception  of  all 
the  ladies  of  England  that  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the 
Queen,  whom  I  had  seen  so  beautiful  on  canvas,  was  a 
small  woman .  .  .  with  long  lean  arms,  shoulders  out  of 
proportion,  and  possessed  of  a  row  of  teeth  which  protruded 
like  a  line  of  defence  from  her  mouth.  However,  when 
I  had  looked  well  at  her,  I  found  that  she  had  very 
beautiful  eyes,  a  well-shaped  nose,  and  an  admirable  com- 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  297 

plexion."  The  English  criticism  on  Sophia  herself  was  more 
appreciative.  One  of  the  lords  in  waiting  remarked,  in  her 
hearing,  that  when  she  grew  up,  she  would  surpass  all 
her  sisters.  *'That  gave  me  an  affection  for  the  whole 
English  nation,  so  much  does  one  love  to  be  thought 
beautiful  when  one  is  young."  This  love  for  England  may 
also  have  been  inspired  by  the  gossip  at  the  Hague,  which 
suggested  a  marriage  between  Sophia  and  her  cousin, 
Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  the  only  immediate  result  of 
which  was  an  attempt  by  Princess  Henry  of  Orange  to 
injure  Sophia's  reputation,  in  order  to  aid  the  claim  of 
her  own  daughter  to  the  hand  of  the  Prince.  The  Hague 
was,  as  Sophia  tells  us,  a  veritable  school  for  scandal  at 
the  time,  but  she  emerged  untarnished  from  the  ordeal. 
In  1649,  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  (for  which  Descartes 
offered  Elizabeth  the  consolation  that  it  would  add  greatly 
to  the  late  king's  reputation)  placed  his  son  in  the  position 
of  a  titular  monarch.  Charles  and  his  adviser  had  found 
an  asylum  at  the  Hague,  and  it  was  there  that  Montrose 
received  his  commission  for  his  last  attempt  in  Scotland. 
He  was  to  be  rewarded,  according  to  Sophia,  with  the 
hand  of  her  sister,  Louise.  Meanwhile,  Charles  made  love 
to  Sophia,  while  the  indefatigable  Princess  Henry  warned 
his  Scottish  supporters  that  Sophia  had  been  attending 
Anglican  services.  It  does  not  appear  that  Sophia  took 
the  matter  at  all  seriously ;  she  did  not  trust  Charles  and 
she  had  been  disgusted  by  his  desertion  of  Montrose  ("  tres- 
brave  capitaine  et  un  homme  de  beaucoup  de  merite"). 
Her  mother  was  deceived  as  to  the  young  king's  inten- 
tions, but  Sophia  shrewdly  suspected  that  his  real  aim 
was  to  employ  an  affaire  de  ccsur  as  a  means  of  obtaining 
money  from  the  faithful  Craven;  **I  had  wit  enough  to 
know  that  the  marriages  of  great  princes  are  not  arranged 
after  this  fashion."    She  had  noticed,  too,  that  the  Princess 


298  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

Henry's  kindly  hint  had  borne  fruit:  Charles  had  scrupu- 
lously avoided  her  in  the  presence  of  the  Scottish  com- 
missioners. Thus  vanished  Sophia's  small  opportunity  of 
becoming  a  Queen  Consort  of  England. 

A  few  months  before  the  death  of  Charles  I.,  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  had  at  last  been  ended  by  the  treaty  of  West- 
phalia, which  created  a  new  Electorate  for  Charles  Lewis, 
the  eldest  brother  of  Sophia,  and  restored  to  him  the  Lower 
Palatinate.  This  accession  to  the  family  resources  did  not 
benefit  the  ill-starred  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  but  the  Elector 
invited  Sophia,  his  favourite  sister,  to  visit  him  at  Heidelberg. 
So  Elizabeth  was  left  with  only  one  of  her  many  children 
(the  Princess  Louise)  to  bear  her  doom  of  poverty  at  the 
Hague.  ''  Our  repasts  were,  at  times,  richer  than  that  of 
Cleopatra,"  remarks  Sophia,  in  this  connexion,  ''for  we 
sometimes  had  nothing  at  Court  but  pearls  and  diamonds." 
For  herself,  she  ordered  what  she  wanted  from  the  shops 
and  trusted  to  Providence,  probably  in  the  person  of  Craven, 
for  the  means  of  payment.  Her  more  serious  views  of 
life  at  this  date  she  summed  up  in  some  devotional  verses 
which  she  terms  ''assez  mechans": 

"Seigneur,  peut-il  qu'un  tien  enfant 
Batte  toujours  la  castagnette 
Ou  bien  s'adjuste  en  coquette 
Et  passe  le  temps  en  dansant? 
Peut-il  que  son  esprit  ne  pense 
Qu'^  bien  gouverner  sa  voix 
Ou  d'un  niais  faire  le  choix 
Pour  rire  de  son  innocence? 
Si  tout  cecy  te  pouvoit  plaire, 
Heureux  serois-je  de  tout  temps 
Avoir  icy  les  passetemps. 
En  I'autre  monde  le  salaire." 

( 

In    1550,    Sophia   proceeded   to    Heidelberg   to  join  her 

brother,    whom    she    regarded   as   standing  towards  her  in 


^^^lillillllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllliliil 

.iSi^^^s"%^iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii  


ELIZABETH     CHARLOTTE,     OE     ORLEANS; 
DAUGHTER     OF     CHARLES     LOUIS,     ELECTOR     PALATINE. 


To  face  p.  299. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  299 

the  position  of  a  father  and  to  whom  she  was  devotedly 
attached.  The  Elector  was  living  in  the  town,  for  the 
magnificent  Castle  which  Elizabeth  of  England  had  enter- 
ed with  such  splendour  in  161 3  had  been  destroyed  in 
the  course  of  the  war.  He  had  married,  a  few  months 
before,  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Hesse,  and  his  relations 
with  this  lady  supplied  the  main  interest  of  Sophia's  life 
at  Heidelberg.  For  our  purpose,  a  mere  outline  of  the 
sordid  story  will  suffice.  The  Elector  was  undeniably  selfish 
and  callous.  His  intrigues  with  Cromwell  and  the  triumphant 
Roundheads  were  lacking  in  common  decency,  and  his 
conduct  to  his  mother  (in  spite  of  the  extenuating  circum- 
stance of  Elizabeth's  irrepressible  extravagance)  has  justly 
provided  a  theme  for  the  moralizing  historian.  He  had 
married  Charlotte  because  she  was  rich;  for,  in  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  as  in  the  struggles  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
"  a  Hessian  horse  or  saddle  "  had  ever  been  at  the  command 
of  the  highest  bidder,  and  had  provided  a  dowry  for  the 
Princesses  of  Hesse.  The  Electress,  on  her  side,  (as  she 
confessed  to  Sophia)  had  been  forced  into  the  union,  and 
she  was  jealous  and  bad-tempered.  Sophia  had  not  been 
an  hour  in  their  company  before  she  perceived  that 
something  was  amiss,  and  ere  long,  each,  in  turn,  had 
confided  their  troubles  to  their  guest.  To  the  only  daughter 
of  this  couple,  Elizabeth,  (born  in  1652)  Sophia  was 
appointed  nominal  governess.  She  became  Sophia's  most 
intimate  friend,  the  Liselotte  of  her  letters.  During  the 
seven  years  of  Sophia's  residence  at  Heidleberg,  the  relations 
between  her  brother  and  his  wife  grew  from  bad  to  worse, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  balls  and  the  masques  which  enlivened 
Court  life,  her  position  was  not  without  its  difficulties.  The 
Elector  found  a  solace  in  the  affections  of  one  of  his  wife's 
maids-of-honour,  named  Degenfeldt,  and  succeeded,  for 
some  years,  in  concealing  the  fact  from  the  Electress.    Sophia, 


30O  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

who  writes  as  a  strong  partisan  of  her  brother,  and  who 
was  on  the  worst  terms  with  her  sister-in-law,  does  not 
confirm  the  romantic  story  told  by  Baron  Pollnitz  in  his 
somewhat  imaginative  memoirs— that  when  the  Electress, 
at  dinner,  charged  her  husband  with  infidelity,  he  struck 
her  in  the  presence  of  Ernest  Augustus  of  Brunswick  and 
the  Queen  of  Denmark.  The  Pollnitz  account  goes  on  to 
tell  how  the  scandal  increased:  the  Elector  announced  his 
intention  of  marrying  the  lady  morganatically ;  his  injured 
wife  made  a  wild  attempt  on  his  life,  and  he  forthwith 
placed  her  under  confinement,  whence  she  escaped  by 
the  aid  of  the  philosopher,  Elizabeth,  who  had  also 
been  residing  at  Heidelberg.  ^  Of  all  this  Sophia's 
own  "Memoirs"  have  nothing  to  tell.  How  far  Sophia 
suppressed  the  facts  in  order  to  shield  her  brother,  and 
how  far  Pollnitz  was  guilty  of  exaggeration,  it  is  impossible 
definitely  to  say.  It  is  certain  that  about  the  year  1657 
a  rupture  did  occur  between  the  Elector  and  the  Electress, 
but  it  cannot  have  had  much  effect  upon  the  fortunes  of 
Sophia,  whose  destiny  had,  by  this  time,  become  unalterably 
connected  with  that  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 

Various  suitors  had  appHed  for  the  hand  of  Sophia  during 
her  residence  at  Heidelberg.  The  letters  of  Elizabeth  Char- 
lotte tell  us  that  Ferdinand  of  Hungary,  the  heir  of  the 
Emperor  Ferdinand  III.,  would  have  married  her,  but  for 
his  premature  death;  she  was  actually  betrothed  to  Prince 
Adolph  of  Sweden,  brother  of  Charles  X.,  but  the  engage- 
ment was  conditional  on  the  acceptance  of  certain  articles 
by  the  King  of  Sweden,  and  these  he  refused  to  sanction. 
In  the  interval,  another  suitor  had  appeared,  and  the  agree- 
ment was  cancelled.  Sophia  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
sorry.     She    says   that   Adolph    had   a  good  presence  and 

1  Pcillnitz,  vol,  i.,  p.  344—355- 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  301 

a  respectable  figure,  but  a  far  from  prepossessing  counten- 
ance, and  a  chin  like  a  shoe-horn.  He  had  also  a  bad 
temper  and  used  to  beat  his  first  wife;  so  though  the 
Elector  "passionately  loved"  the  King  of  Sweden,  it  was, 
perhaps,  better  that  his  sister  should  not  marry  Adolph. 
The  Prince  Fortunatus  who  appeared  at  the  right  moment 
was  George  William  of  Hanover,  and  it  was  with  the 
Hanoverian  House,  though  not  with  the  person  of  George 
William,  that  the  name  of  Sophia  was  to  be  indissolubly 
linked.  George  William  was  the  grandson  of  the  Duke 
William,  who,  in  1569,  had  founded  the  New  House  of 
Liineburg,  one  of  the  three  sixteenth-century  divisions^  of 
the  mediaeval  Middle  House  of  Brunswick.  Duke  William 
had  died  in  1592,  leaving  five  sons,  four^  of  whom  suc- 
ceeded in  turn  to  Liineburg-Celle.  The  fifth  brother,  George, 
ruled  for  some  time  the  principality  of  Calenberg-Gottingen 
which  had  been  added  to  the  possessions  of  the  New 
House  of  Liineburg,  and  it  was  in  virtue  of  this  arrange- 
ment that  Hanover  first  came  to  occupy  the  position  of  a 
capital.  George  died  in  1641,  six  years  before  his  brother 
Frederic,  on  whose  death,  the  family  heritage  (decreased 
by  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia)  was  divided  among  the  four 
sons  of  George.  The  eldest.  Christian  Lewis,  who  had 
held  Hanover  from  his  father's  death,  succeeded  in  1468 
to  Celle,  and  Calenberg  (Hanover)  fell  to  the  second  son, 
George  William.  He,  in  1656,  aspired  to  the  hand  of 
Sophia,  who  (as  she  confesses)  "did  not  hesitate  to  say 
*yes*."  George  William  was  no  hero:  but  he  was  a  brave 
soldier  and  an  enthusiastic  sportsman, '  good-humoured  and 
self-indulgent.     In   later   life,   he   was  an  intimate  friend  of 

^   The  other  two  were  Wolfenbiittel  and  Bevern. 

3  Ernest  (1592— 1633),  Christian  (161 1— 1633),  Augustus  (1633— 1636), 
Frederic  (1636 — 1649). 

3  Ker  of  Kersland's  Memoirs,  Mr.  Consul  Ker's  Remarks  upon  Germany, 
p.  115. 


302  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

William  III.,  for  whose  entertainment  he  kept  some  excel- 
lent champagne.  His  love  of  French  society  and  ItaHan 
travel  had  served  to  differentiate  his  manners  from  those 
of  his  German  contemporaries,  and  may  have  helped  to 
commend  him  to  Sophia.  Above  all,  he  was  reigning 
Duke  of  Hanover,  and  heir  to  his  brother,  the  childless 
Duke  of  Celle. 

The  marriage  agreement  with  George  William  had  scarcely 
been  concluded,  when  the  bridegroom  began  to  feel  that 
he  could  not  bring  himself  to  give  up  the  freedom  of 
bachelor  life,  a  freedom,  which,  as  Sophia  very  frankly 
states,  had  degenerated  into  licence.  A  visit  to  his  beloved 
Venice  confirmed  him  in  this  view,  and  he  began  to  arrange 
for  his  honourable  release  from  his  engagement  by  means 
of  a  device  which,  strange  as  it  may  appear  to  us,  was 
not  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  his  own  House. 
Of  his  two  younger  brothers,  the  elder,  John  Frederic, 
had  become  a  convert  to  Roman  CathoHcism  in  165 1, 
and  he  was,  for  this  and  other  reasons,  on  less  friendly 
terms  with  George  William  than  the  remaining  brother, 
Ernest  Augustus,  who  had  been  his  companion  in  many 
of  his  Italian  visits.  "  These  two  princes  were  thus  closely 
bound  together,"  says  Dr.  A.  W.  Ward,  **not  only  by 
an  affection  which  withstood  the  severest  of  trials,  but  by 
a  complete  congeniality  of  disposition,  habits  and  opinions."  ^ 
George  William  now  proposed  to  transfer  his  bride  to 
his  favourite  brother,  and  offered  to  make,  in  favour  of  the 
issue  of  their  union,  a  solemn  promise  to  remain  unmarried 
during  the  lifetime  of  Ernest  Augustus  and  Sophia.  He 
had  at  first  intended  to  take  the  more  generous  step  of 
at  once  handing  over  the  Duchy  of  Hanover  to  the 
young  couple,  but  this  solution  was  prevented  by  the  natural 

1   Great  Britain  and  Hanover,  p.  31. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  303 

opposition  of  the  third  brother,  John  Frederic,  whose  claim 
to  the  succession  it  would  have  barred.  The  final  settle- 
ment was  made  in  the  summer  of  1658,  and  Sophia  was 
duly  instructed  to  transfer  her  affection  from  George  William 
to  Ernest  Augustus.  She  had  seen  her  future  husband  as 
a  boy  in  Holland,  and  he  had  made  a  considerable  im- 
pression upon  her  when  he  visited  Heidleberg  in  the  course 
of  the  first  year  of  her  residence  there.  He  danced  superbly, 
played  the  guitar,  and  had  beautiful  hands.  Ernest,  on 
his  part,  sent  Sophia  compositions  of  Francesco  Corbetti, 
and  attempted  to  make  them  the  occasion  of  a  correspond- 
ence. But  the  wise  Sophia  did  not  encourage  him.  "Comme 
il  estoit  le  cadet  de  trois  fr^res,  on  ne  le  regarda  point 
comme  un  prince  bon  a  marier."  The  renunciation  of 
George  William  had  placed  him  in  a  new  position,  and 
now,  after  the  lapse  of  seven  years,  love's  young  dream 
might  be  realized.  In  June,  1658,  **the  elector  allowed 
me  to  receive  from  the  Duke  Ernest  Augustus  a  present, 
and  the  letter  which  by  use  and  wont  must  be  written  in 
such  circumstances."  Was  Sophia  really  in  love  with  George 
William  or  with  Ernest  Augustus  or  with  neither?  It  is 
the  puzzle  of  the  Memoirs.  It  may  be  that  she  had  lost 
her  heart  to  George  William  and  that  these  references  to 
Ernest  Augustus  are  merely  diplomatic,  but  it  seems  at 
least  as  likely,  in  all  the  circumstances,  that  she  did  not 
really  regret  the  exchange.  Perhaps,  as  Miss  Strickland 
has  suggested,  ^  the  key  is  to  be  found  not  in  the  Memoirs 
at  all,  but  in  the  mysterious  incident  to  which  Elizabeth 
of  Bohemia  refers  in  a  letter  to  Prince  Rupert.  ^  If  so, 
neither  George  William  nor  Ernest  Augustus  was  the  real 
prince  whom  duty  bade  her  dismiss  from  her  mind  as  not 
"bon  a  marier,"  but  one  of  the  House  of  Fiirstenberg,  who 

*  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  Scotland  and  English  Princesses,  vol.  viii.,  p.  297. 

*  Bromley  Letters,  p.  288  (April  29,  1657). 


304  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

wrote  a  pretty  letter.  The  difficulty  of  determining  the 
truth  was  as  obvious  to  contemporaries  as  to  modern  read- 
ers. It  certainly  troubled  Ernest  Augustus  (at  least  in  the 
early  days  of  their  married  life),  and  excellent  wife  as 
Sophia  proved,  it  is  possible  that  she  herself  was  not  quite 
sure  till  the  course  of  events  sent  George  William  from 
her  side. 

Ernest  Augustus  and  Sophia  were  married  at  Heidelberg 
in  September  1658.  In  her  Memoirs,  Sophia  recalls  in 
glowing  language  the  affection  which  had  come  to  exist 
between  them.  The  household  arrangements,  however,  in- 
cluded one  serious  menace  to  married  bliss.  The  Duke 
George  WiUiam,  Sophia's  lover-emeritus,  took  up  his  residence 
at  Hanover,  where  his  brother  and  his  bride  were  living. 
The  position  was  an  impossible  one,  and  the  natural  result 
was  a  comedy  of  jealousy,  of  which  Sophia  represents  her- 
self as  the  innocent  victim.  George  William  was  ill  one 
day,  and,  to  Sophia's  condolences  on  the  consequent  post- 
ponement of  a  Venetian  visit,  he  politely  replied  that  when 
she  was  at  Hanover,  he  did  not  wish  to  be  elsewhere. 
Sophia  laughed  and  quoted  a  line  of  a  song :  "  When  one 
cannot  have  what  one  wants,  one  must  want  what  one  has." 
The  last  words  were  overheard  by  her  husband,  who 
applied  them  to  his  brother  and  himself,  and  the  incident 
caused  considerable  trouble.  It  did  not,  however,  lead  to 
any  coldness  between  the  brothers ;  in  the  beginning  of 
1659,  Ernest  Augustus  left  his  four  months'  bride  and  ac- 
companied George  William  on  an  Italian  tour.  "I  weary 
during  their  absence,"  wrote  Sophia  to  her  brother  the 
Elector,  "  for  I  am  the  miracle  of  this  age :  I  love  my  hus- 
band." Her  husband's  absences  were  frequent;  in  the  fol- 
lowing winter,  the  two  brothers  were  again  in  Venice,  and 
Sophia  was  left  to  weary  at  Hanover.  The  jealousy  of 
Ernest   Augustus   had   again   disturbed   the  even  tenour  of 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  30S 

life,  and  it  had  become  clear  that  some  change  must  be 
made  in  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the  ducal  family. 
In  her  husband's  absences  Sophia  had  the  consolation  of 
her  niece's  company,  for  Liselotte  (Elizabeth  Charlotte) 
had  accompanied  her  from  Heidelberg  to  Hanover,  and 
was  still  under  her  charge.  She  paid  occasional  visits  to 
her  mother,  who  was  still  resident  at  the  Hague,  and  who, 
as  the  Memoirs  wickedly  relate,  was  very  fond  of  Lise- 
lotte— loved  her  even  more  than  she  did  her  dogs.  The 
next  two  years  of  Sophia's  married  life  were  fruitful  of  events. 
In  June,  1660,  was  born  her  first  child,  George  Lewis, 
afterwards  George  I.  The  year  1661  saw  the  departure 
of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia  for  England  and  that  of  Elizabeth 
Charlotte  for  Heidelberg ;  the  birth  of  Sophia's  second  son, 
Frederic  Augustus;  and  the  succession  of  her  husband  to 
the  Bishopric  of  Osnabruck.  It  had  been  provided  by  the 
Treaty  of  Westphalia  that  every  alternate  occupant  of  the 
See  of  Osnabruck  should  be  a  member  of  the  Liineburg 
family.  In  December  1661,  the  Roman  Bishop,  Francis 
William,  Cardinal  of  Wurtemberg,  died,  and  Ernest  Augustus 
became  titular  Bishop.  Although  his  best  title  to  remem- 
brance is  as  a  soldier,  he  had  originally  been  educated  with 
a  view  to  some  such  arrangement  as  this,  for  he  had 
studied  at  Marburg,  and  had  for  some  time  possessed  the 
title  of  co-adjutor  Bishop  of  Magdeburg.  In  October  1662, 
he  took  possession  of  his  heritage,  and  made  a  triumphal 
entry  into  Osnabruck.  Cynical  as  this  whole  arrangement 
was,  the  Bishop  of  Osnabriick  did  not  venture  to  include 
his  wife  in  the  procession;  "on  trouva  que  je  serois  hors 
d'oeuvre  a  cette  ceremonie  ecclesiastique  . . .  et  M.  le  due 
me  fit  I'honneur  de  me  recevoir  en  approchant  d'Ibourg, 
sa  nouvelle  residence."  The  castle  of  Iburg  continued  to 
be  her  home  for  seventeen  years,  and  Madame  Osnabruck 
had  at   last   the  satisfaction  of  possessing  an  establishment 


3o6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  her  own.  Her  other  difficulty,  the  presence  of  George 
William,  was  also  destined  soon  to  be  removed,  but  by  a 
means  which  was  itself  productive  of  new  troubles. 

It  was  while  preparing  for  a  tour  through  Italy  in  1664 
that  Sophia  first  heard  the  ill-omened  name  of  Eleonore 
d'Olbreuse.  This  lady  was  a  member  of  a  Poitevin  family 
and  had  been  a  lady-in-waiting  to  the  Princess  of  Tarento. 
She  had  attracted  the  attention  of  George  William,  who 
followed  her  to  Holland,  and  established  a  connexion 
which  proved  a  constant  source  of  irritation  to  Sophia,  and 
ultimately  led  to  one  of  the  tragedies  associated  with  the 
House  of  Hanover.  Meanwhile,  Sophia  and  her  husband 
pursued  their  course  by  Verona  and  Venice  to  Rome. 
Domestic  squabbles  hindered  Sophia's  appreciation  of  Venice. 
*'  My  husband  asked  me  if  I  did  not  think  the  town  beautiful ; 
I  did  not  dare  to  say  no,  although  it  appeared  to  me  very 
melancholy,  for  I  saw  nothing  but  water,  and  heard  nothing 
but  the  cry  **  Premi  et  stali  "."  Exactly  a  hundred  years  later. 
Gibbon  ^  wrote  in  a  similar  strain  of  the  great  Republic.  At 
Rome  Sophia  had  two  troubles — fever,  and  **  the  poor  Queen 
Christina  "  of  Sweden,  who  ignored  her  rank,  and  on  whom  she 
took  her  revenge  by  writing  scandal  to  her  brother.  The  Pope 
had  also  offended,  by  his  treatment  of  her  brother-in-law,  John 
Frederic,  and  he  offered  her  an  audience  only  incognito, 
a  suggestion  which  she  declined.  Living  at  Rome  and 
quarrelling  with  the  Pope  did  not  prove  specially  pleasant, 
and  so  the  return  journey  was  commenced — by  Florence, 
Bologna,  and  Milan.  In  the  spring  of  1665,  they  returned 
to  Iburg  to  find  two  family  compHcations  demanding  im- 
mediate solution.  The  eldest  of  Sophia's  three  brothers-in- 
law,  Christian  Lewis,  Duke  of  Celle,  died  on  March  15th, 
1665,  and  it  should  now  have  fallen  to  George  William  to 

1  Letters,  ed.  Prothero,  I.  75. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  30? 

choose  between  Celle  and  Hanover,  but  while  he  was 
makmg  love  to  Eleonore  d'Olbreuse,  John  Frederic,  "the 
fat  Duke",  had  seized  Celle,  and  it  was  only  after  much 
negotiation  that  he  agreed  to  exchange  it  for  Hanover. 
George  William,  now  Duke  of  Celle,  persuaded  Sophia  to 
invite  Eleonore  to  Iburg,  and  she  writes  frankly  of  the  good 
impression  made  by  her  guest.  In  the  following  November, 
an  arrangement  was  made:  a  fixed  income  for  life  was 
settled  upon  Eleonore  d'Olbreuse,  but  George  William  re- 
affirmed his  promise  to  remain  celibate  as  far  as  concerned 
the  succession.  Eleonore  wished  to  be  known  as  Madame 
de  Celle,  but  the  proposal  roused  the  opposition  not  only 
of  Ernest  Augustus  and  Sophia,  but  also  of  the  Dowager 
Duchess,  the  widow  of  Christian  Lewis,  who  was  much 
offended  at  the  idea  of  giving  her  name  '*  to  a  simple  gentle- 
woman", and  George  William  decided  that  she  should  be 
known  as  Madame  de  Harburg.  In  September  1666  was 
born  the  only  child  of  Eleonore  that  attained  maturity, 
the  unfortunate  Sophia  Dorothea,  the  uncrowned  queen  of 
George  I. 

The  first  ten  years  of  Sophia's  married  life  had  been 
passed  in  domestic  squabbles  and  in  the  interests  of  the 
nursery.  By  the  year  1668,  her  children  numbered  three 
sons  and  a  daughter,  the  latter  her  favourite  child,  Sophia 
Charlotte,  who  was  to  become  Queen  of  Prussia.  Unlike 
Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  she  was  a  devoted  mother,  and  her 
letters  and  memoirs  are  full  of  references  to  her  children. 
The  close  of  this  first  decade  found  the  House  of  Hanover 
confronted  with  a  political  situation  which  was  far  more 
critical  than  anyone  at  the  time  could  possibly  tell.  In 
January,  1668,  was  formed  the  Triple  Alliance  between 
England,  Sweden,  and  Holland,  to  counteract  the  growing 
power  of  France.  The  traditional  policy  of  the  Brunswick 
dukes,   since   the   Treaty  of  Westphalia,  had  been  alliance 


3o8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCPLSSES 

with  Holland,  and  they  had  exercised  considerable  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  Northern  Europe.  When,  in  1670,  Louis  XIV., 
by  the  Treaty  of  Dover,  succeeded  in  detaching  England 
from  the  Triple  Alliance,  the  three  brothers  had  to  decide 
on  the  attitude  they  were  now  to  adopt.  John  Frederic  of 
Hanover  was  the  first  to  take  a  final  step ;  in  1 67 1  he  made 
an  agreement  with  France.  It  was  possibly  owing  to  the 
influence  of  Sophia,  who  was  always  tenacious  of  her  English 
connexions,  and  whose  beloved  niece,  EHzabeth  Charlotte, 
had  just  married  Philip  of  Orleans,  the  widower  of  Henrietta  of 
England,  that  Ernest  Augustus  was  inclined  to  throw  in  his 
lot  with  Louis  XIV.  But  George  William  of  Celle  finally 
decided  the  attitude  of  his  House,  and  Ernest  Augustus  follow- 
ed him  in  adopting  a  Hne  of  uncompromising  opposition 
to  French  claims.  From  this  date  (although  John  Frederic 
continued  to  ally  himself  with  France)  loyalty  to  the  Empire 
became  the  unvarying  policy  of  the  House.  When,  in  1672, 
England  and  France  declared  war  upon  Holland,  George 
William  and  Ernest  Augustus  prepared  to  take  part  in  the 
war,  and  in  1 674  Ernest  Augustus  and  his  son  George  Lewis, 
now  fourteen  years  old,  bore  an  honourable  part  in  the 
victories  bf  the  allies.  This  policy  seemed  at  the  time  to 
place  the  House  of  Brunswick  in  opposition  to  England: 
but  it  was  really  the  crisis  which  involved  the  whole 
question  of  the  succession.  To  Stuarts  and  Guelphs  alike 
the  fateful  choice  had  come;  the  former,  under  Charles  II., 
had  declared  for  France,  the  latter  for  Holland  and  the 
liberties  of  Europe.  Had  either  party  chosen  otherwise, 
the  course  of  British  history  might  have  been  changed. 
Had  William  III.  found  the  line  of  Brunswick  the  trusted 
friends  of  Louis  XIV.,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  Act  of 
Settlement  should  have  contained  the  name  of  Sophia.  The 
only  trace  of  inconsistency  in  the  attitude  of  the  House 
vanished   when,   in    1679,  John   Frederic   died,  and  Ernest 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  309 

Augustus  became  Duke  of  Hanover.  In  the  wars  of  the 
next  ten  years,  the  House  of  Hanover  attained  fresh 
military  distinctions,  and  Prince  George  Lewis  could  claim 
a  share  in  the  glory  gained  by  John  Sobieski  in  the  relief 
of  Vienna  in  1683.  Finally,  both  George  William  and 
Ernest  Augustus  were  among  the  North  German  Princes 
whose  support  was  given  to  William  of  Orange  in  the 
formation  of  the  League  of  Augsburg  (1686 — 1688). 

We  have  already  noted  the  most  important  events  in 
Sophia's  domestic  life  between  the  Triple  Alliance  of  1668 
and  the  war  of  the  League  of  Augsburg — the  marriage  of 
Elizabeth  Charlotte  in  1671  and  the  succession  to  Hanover 
in  1679,  Three  more  sons  were  born  to  her  between  1669 
and  1674,  completing  her  family  of  seven.  The  chief 
domestic  interests  of  this  period  of  Sophia's  life  are  again 
connected  with  the  relations  of  George  William  of  Celle 
and  Eleonore  d'Olbreuse.  The  Duke  of  Celle  was  at  first 
content  with  providing  a  dowry  for  Eleonore  and  his 
daughter,  Sophia  Dorothea,  and  with  obtaining  the  Emperor's 
consent  to  her  use  of  the  title  of  Countess  of  Wilhelmsburg, 
but  the  existence  of  this  very  dowry  led,  in  1671,  to  the 
development  of  a  new  situation.  The  head  of  the  Wolfen- 
biittel  branch  of  the  family  was  the  childless  Duke  Rudolph 
Augustus,  and  his  heir  was  his  brother,  the  eccentric  Antony 
Ulric,  who  after  occupying  an  important  place  among 
the  Protestant  Princes  of  Germany,  was  finally  reconciled 
to  the  Roman  Church.  He  was  a  poet,  and  the  author  of 
a  novel  known  as  the  "Roman  Octavia,"  in  which,  under 
the  guise  of  Roman  history,  he  introduced  various  episodes 
from  contemporary  life,  some  of  which  have  found  their 
way  into  histories  of  his  time.  Antony  Ulric  was,  as  Sophia 
tells  us,  "a  cadet,  poor,  and  in  debt,"  and  he  proposed 
that  his  son  Augustus  Frederic  should  be  betrothed  to 
Sophia   Dorothea,    "hoping    by    her    money    to   adjust  his 


3IO  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

financial  difficulties."  It  was  obvious  that  the  status  of 
Sophia  Dorothea  must  be  improved  if  she  were  to  become 
the  wife  of  the  heir  to  Wolfenbiittel,  and  as  Rudolph 
Augustus  was  not  content  with  the  legitimation  of  the  child, 
the  project  of  a  marriage  between  George  William  and  her 
mother  began  to  be  seriously  discussed.  Ernest  Augustus 
and  Sophia  had  no  objection  to  a  morganatic  marriage,  but 
any  more  regular  union  seemed  to  menace  the  succession, 
and  Sophia  wrote  to  George  William  a  letter,  which  she 
quotes  in  her  Memoirs,  protesting  against  Eleonore's  receiv- 
ing the  title  of  Princess.  The  marriage  actually  took  place 
in  the  spring  of  1676,  but  the  Duke  of  Celle  re-affirmed 
his  renunciation  of  the  succession  for  his  children,  and  the 
Emperor  gave  his  sanction  to  the  agreement,  while  Sophia 
and  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  exchanged  witticisms  upon 
''this  creature,"  who  called  herself  a  Duchess.  As  far  as 
the  unfortunate  Antony  Ulric  was  concerned,  all  this  suc- 
cessful negotiation  was  fruitless;  his  son  was  killed  a  few 
months  after  the  marriage  of  George  William  and  Eleonore 
d'Olbreuse.  He  had  only  been  clearing  the  stage  for  the 
tragedy  of  Ahlden.  The  events  of  1676  had  produced  a 
coolness  between  George  William  and  Ernest  Augustus, 
which  continued  till  the  death  of  John  Frederic.  The  Duke 
of  Hanover  had  married  in  1668,  but  he  left  no  male 
heir,  and  Sophia,  when  she  heard  of  his  death,  although 
*'  sensible  of  the  loss  of  a  good  friend  ",  was  able  to  thank 
God  for  having  by  this  event  given  her  husband  and  children 
a  shelter  from  their  enemies  of  the  house  of  Celle.  The  Bishop 
of  Osnabriick,  however,  although  he  had  now  succeeded 
to  the  Duchy  of  Hanover,  was  tenacious  of  his  claims  upon 
Celle.  The  union  of  Celle  and  Hanover  had  been  forbidden 
by  their  father,  Duke  George,  and  if  George  William 
entertained  any  design  of  freeing  himself  from  his  obliga- 
tions,   the  testament  of  Duke  George  gave  him  an  oppor- 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  311 

tunity  of  doing  so.  It  was  therefore  to  the  interest,  as  well 
as  in  accordance  with  the  inclination,  of  Ernest  Augustus 
to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  with  his  favourite  brother, 
and  in  1680,  George  William  agreed  to  stand  by  his 
promise  of  1658,  and  Sophia  had  the  mortification  of  having 
to  acknowledge  Eleonore  d'Olbreuse  as  Duchess  of  Liineburg- 
Celle.  Only  one  further  step  remained  for  the  consolidation 
of  the  House.  Sophia's  eldest  son,  George  Lewis,  was  now 
twenty  years  of  age.  If  his  personality  was  not  specially 
attractive  nor  his  disposition  particularly  amiable,  he  was, 
at  all  events,  brave  and  honest,  and,  more  important  still, 
the  heir  to  Hanover  and  Celle.  His  mother,  who  retained 
a  strong  affection  for  her  English  kinsfolk,  at  first  proposed 
that  he  should  marry  the  Princess  Anne  of  York,  and,  in 
December  1689,  he  paid  a  visit  to  England,  where  he  was 
heartily  welcomed  as  the  prospective  husband  of  a  lady 
who  stood  near  in  succession  to  the  throne.  Meanwhile, 
however,  Ernest  Augustus  had  made  other  plans,  and 
George  Lewis  was  hurriedly  summoned,  in  168 1,  to  be 
betrothed  to  Sophia  Dorothea.  The  match  had  been  suggest- 
ed in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1679,  but  neither  Ernest 
Augustus  nor  George  William  approved  of  the  proposal ;  * 
now,  however,  circumstances  had  changed,  and  the  ill-fated 
marriage  was  duly  arranged,  as  part  of  the  agreement  by 
which  Hanover  and  Celle  were  to  be  united  in  the  person 
of  George  Lewis.  The  marriage  was  celebrated  in  Novem- 
ber, 1682,  and  in  July,  1683,  the  Emperor  gave  his  sanction 
to  the  "setting  up"  of  the  testament  of  Ernest  Augustus 
which  annulled  the  prohibition  clause  of  the  testament  of 
Duke  George.  It  seems  to  be  quite  clear  that  the  alliance 
was  simply  part  of  the  family  settlement,  and  the  statement 
of  Baron  PoUnitz  that  it  owed  its  existence  to  the  intrigues 

1  Sophia  to  the  Elector  Palatine,  23  Feb.  1679.  Bodemann,  i.,  348. 


312  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

of  Sophia  ^  finds  no  confirmation  whatsoever.  The  interest- 
ing story,  which  finds  a  place  in  biographies  of  Sophia — 
her  sudden  appearance  at  Celle  in  the  early  morning  of  the 
sixteenth  birthday  of  Sophia  Dorothea,  her  congratulations 
to  the  surprised  parents,  who  were  still  in  bed,  her  conversation 
with  George  William  in  the  Dutch  tongue  so  as  not  to  be 
understood  by  Eleonore,  and  the  consequent  marriage  agree- 
ment, made  in  Eleonore's  presence,  but  without  her  know- 
ledge -  all  this  is  most  probably  to  be  traced  to  the  *' Roman 
Octavia"  of  Antony  Ulric,  who  would  have  willingly  claim- 
ed the  hand  of  the  bride  for  one  of  the  brothers  of  the 
unfortunate  Augustus  Frederic,  and  so  secured  the  dowry 
he  had  so  long  desired.  It  is  not  probable  that  Sophia 
had  much  love  for  her  daughter-in-law,  the  child  of  her 
successful  enemy,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  she  disliked 
the  whole  agreement  which  settled  the  whole  of  the  family 
heritage  upon  her  eldest  son  (who,  as  we  know  from  the 
letters  of  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  was  lacking,  at  all  events, 
in  demonstrative  affection),  and  barred  the  claim  of  her 
second  son,  Frederic  Augustus,  to  one  of  the  duchies.  Not- 
withstanding all  this,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the 
references  in  her  private  correspondence,  Sophia  behaved 
with  considerable  kindness  to  her  son's  wife,  nor  is  there 
any  historical  ground  for  connecting  her  with  the  deplorable 
results  which  followed  from  this  purely  political  marriage. 
We  have  no  space  to  linger  over  the  other  domestic  events 
recounted  in  the  "  Memoirs,"  including  Sophia's  two  visits 
to  France.  The  first  of  these  was  an  incognito  visit,  in 
1679,  to  the  Abbess  Louise  at  Maubuisson,  where  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  met  her,  and  aunts  and  niece  gave  way 
to  their  emotions  quite  like  ordinary  Germans. "  Thence 
she    proceeded,    still    incognito,    to    Court,   where  she  was 

*  Pollnitz,   Memoirs,  vol.  i.,  p.  62. 

'  Diary  of  Henry  Sidney,  vol.  i.,  pp.   102 — 3. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  313 

received  by  Louis  XIV.,  who  delighted  her  by  his  courtesy, 
and  where  she  witnessed  the  marriage  of  Maria  Louise, 
the  elder  daughter  of  Philip  of  Orleans  and  Henrietta  of 
England,  to  Charles  II.  of  Spain.  In  company  with  the 
Duke  and  Duchess  of  Orleans  she  visited  Versailles.  ''  For 
myself,"  she  says,  '*I  preferred  St.  Cloud  to  Versailles,  "  ou 
la  depense  a  fait  plus  de  merveilles  que  la  nature."  The 
visit  was  a  complete  success,  and  Sophia  left  the  gaieties 
of  the  French  Court  with  the  comforting  assurance  that  she 
had  seen  a  better  opera  at  Hanover  in  the  days  of  John 
Frederic.  In  the  end  of  1679,  she  paid  a  visit  of  a  different 
nature  to  the  Abbess  Elizabeth  of  Herfort,  who  was  now  suffer- 
ing from  a  mortal  disease,  and  who  welcomed  Sophia  as  an 
angel  from  heaven.  The  Abbess  died  in  the  following  year. 
The  second  visit  of  Sophia  to  France  was  in  the  year  1683, 
when  she  paid  a  state  visit  to  Louis  XIV.,  accompanied 
(as  on  the  last  occasion)  by  her  daughter  Sophia  Charlotte. 
This  second  visit  has  been  generally  traced  to  the  famous 
conversation  between  Gourville  and  Sophia,  when  the 
French  diplomatist  asked  the  religion  of  the  girl,  and 
received  the  reply  that  they  had  not  yet  decided  upon  her 
husband.  *  If  Sophia  had  realized  her  ambition  and  arranged 
a  marriage  between  her  daughter  and  the  Dauphin,  the 
ultimate  result  might  have  been  disastrous  to  the  House 
of  Hanover.  For  the  price  of  the  match  was  the  alliance 
of  Ernest  Augustus  (who  had  just  distinguished  himself 
in  the  Turkish  war)  with  France,  and  Gourville  states 
that  the  negotiations  failed  because  the  Duke  of  Hanover 
refused  to  desert  the  House  of  Hapsburg  and  the  cause  of 
William  of  Orange.  Sophia  returned  after  a  year  spent 
in  vain  at  the  French  court,  and  almost  immediately 
arranged    a    marriage    between  her  beautiful  daughter  and 

1  Memoires  de  Gourville  (1687),  p.  581. 


314  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

the  son  of  the  Great  Elector,  afterwards  the  first  King  of 
Prussia — Carlyle's  "  expensive  king  .  .  .  who  had  to  go  with 
his  spine  distorted — distortion  not  glaringly  conspicuous 
though  undesirable — and  to  act  the  HohenzoUern  soJ" 

Sophia's  "Memoirs,"  which  have  hitherto  been  our  main 
authority,  end,  somewhat  sadly,  in  the  year  1681.  She 
had  just  lost  her  sister  EHzabeth  and  her  beloved  brother, 
and  constant  correspondent,  the  Elector  Palatine.  Her 
husband  was,  as  usual,  away,  and  she  tells  us  that  she 
wrote  merely  to  pass  the  time.  "J'espere  que  le  retour 
de  M.  le  Due  qui  sera  en  peu  de  jours,  me  remettra  tout- 
a-fait  pour  n'aller  pas  si  tost  le  chemin  de  tous  les  mortels." 
Her  husband  did  not  remain  long  with  her,  but  she  never 
wrote  another  line  of  her  Memoirs.  Her  interests  were 
even  now  beginning  to  take  a  new  direction,  and  she  had 
now  found  a  better  confidant  than  pen  and  paper  alone. 
In  1673  John  Frederic  of  Hanover  had  persuaded  Gottfried 
Wilhelm  Leibniz  to  transfer  his  services  from  the  Elector 
of  Mainz  to  himself,  and  three  years  later,  the  philosopher 
had  taken  up  his  residence  at  Hanover.  When  John  Frederic 
died,  Leibniz  was  retained  in  the  service  of  Duke  Ernest 
Augustus,  and  Sophia,  left  alone  with  her  own  thoughts, 
found  in  her  new  adviser  an  intimate  friend.  Without  any 
distinct  speculative  abihty,  the  Duchess  of  Hanover  was 
possessed  of  a  keen  interest  in  intellectual  problems,  even  when 
she  was  not  able  to  understand  them,  and  the  deepest  thinker 
of  the  age  proved  also  a  sage  adviser,  whose  practical  counsel 
was  of  the  greatest  service  to  her  in  the  delicate  situation 
in  which  the  English  Revolution  was  soon  to  place  her. 


II. 


Sophia,  like  most  of  the  children  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia, 
had    never    forgotten    that  her  grandfather  was  a  King  of 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  315 

Great  Britain.  She  spoke  and  wrote  English  fluently,  if 
not  ahvays  correctly,  and  she  had  maintained  constant 
intercourse  with  her  Stuart  relatives.  Elizabeth  Charlotte  of 
Orleans,  in  one  of  her  letters,  remarks  that  her  father,  the 
Elector  Palatine,  and  her  aunt,  the  Electress  of  Hanover, 
looked  on  the  English  as  perfection  itself.  ^  Throughout 
the  correspondence  of  Sophia  and  her  brother  one  finds  a 
constant  interchange  of  English  proverbs.  "Dis  way  and 
that  way  and  wich  way  you  will . .  .  The  Swedes  have 
brought  theire  hogges  to  a  faire  marcket . . .  We  muchts 
Carrey  our  bodey  swiminley  ...  Je  me  rejouis  that  the 
lion  and  the  lamb  lay  down  together."  ^  These  and  similar 
phrases  interrupt  the  flow  of  their  epistolary  French.  The 
Elector  had  even  read  Shakespeare,  and  to  some  pur- 
pose (misleading  some  of  his  editors  by  calling  Falstaff 
"Jack") — "But  not  upon  compulsion,  saith  Jac.  Falstaff  to 
his  hostesse  Mrs.  Quickly,  when  she  would  make  him 
pay  his  score."'  The  name  of  King  James  occurs  occasi- 
onally in  their  letters,  and  the  Elector  knew  a  story 
about  a  Scottish  minister  and  the  King.  He  hoped  * 
that  the  fate  of  Charles  XL  of  Sweden  in  his  German 
expedition  (1675)  would  be  in  accordance  with  the 
prayer  of  a  Scottish  Puritan  minister  for  the  late  king 
James,  "  breake  an  arme  or  a  legge  of  him,  good  Lord, 
and  set  him  up  againe."  Sophia  had  watched  carefully 
the  progress  of  events  in  England  since  the  Restoration, 
and  the  difficulties  of  Charles  II.  "  Le  pauvre  Roy  d'Engle- 
terre  n'en  a  pas  tant  sur  le  trone ;  il  a  plus  d'affaires  avec 
son  parlament  qu'avec  ses  mestresses."  ^  In  all  this,  there 
was  nothing  but  a  natural  interest  in  the  condition  of  near 

1  Briefe  d.  Elisabeth  Charlotte,  vol.  vi.,  p.  118  (i8th  April,  1720). 

2  Bodemann,  vol.  i.,  pp.   196,  253,  270,  280. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  398. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  258. 

•"'  Bodemann,  i.,  p    357. 


3i6  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

relatives  whose  fate  had  been  closely  interwoven  with  that 
of  the  Palatine  House.  It  is  improbable  that  even  the 
Exclusion  Bill  of  1680  could  have  suggested  the  possibility 
of  personal  or  family  aggrandisement,  for  the  Duke  of 
York  had  two  daughters,  and  Sophia  was  the  youngest  of 
her  own  family.  But  the  events  of  the  year  1688  cannot 
have  failed  to  suggest  to  her  the  possibility  of  the  succes- 
sion. Mary  of  Orange  was  childless.  Death  had  already 
proved  so  regular  a  visitor  of  Anne's  nursery  that  Sophia, 
with  the  callousness  of  her  generation,  remarked  in  refer- 
ence to  the  birth  of  one  of  her  children,  that  they  inherited 
a  heavenly  crown,  leaving  an  earthly  one  for  her  own.  ^ 
Of  her  own  brothers  and  sisters  who  had  remained  true 
to  the  Protestant  faith,  she  alone  had  heirs.  If  the  people 
of  England  were  determined  to  secure  the  succession  of 
the  nearest  Protestant  descendant  of  James  I.,  it  could  only 
be  through  herself.  The  heritage  was  a  noble  one,  and  it 
must  have  appealed  in  a  very  special  way  to  the  Anglo- 
phile Sophia.  On  the  other  hand,  King  James  was  her 
cousin  and  she  had  always  been  on  friendly  terms  with 
him.  Her  brothers,  Rupert  and  Maurice,  had  fought  for 
his  father,  and  his  brother,  Charles  II.,  had  ministered  to 
her  mother's  wants  in  her  last  years.  It  has  been  the 
frequent  theme  of  English  historians  that  Sophia's  one  aim 
was  the  succession  to  the  Stuart  throne,  while  recent  Ger- 
man writers,  have  gone  so  far  in  the  other  direction  as  to 
argue  that  she  was  really  a  Jacobite  at  heart.  Probably 
neither  view  is  wholly  incorrect.  Sophia  would  not  play  false, 
would  not  even  wrongly  win;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  she 
was  not  called  upon  to  place  obstacles  in  the  path  of  her 
own  children.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  her  intriguing,  as 
William  of  Orange  was  at  that  moment  intriguing,  to  sup- 

^   Correspondance  de   Leibniz   avec  PElecirice   Sophie,  ed.  Klopp,  i.,  p.  73. 
This  book  is  elsewhere  quoted  as  Correspondance. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  317 

plant  the  king  who  was  at  once  his  uncle  and  his  father- 
in-law;  but  she  knew  enough  of  English  politics  to  under- 
stand why  the  revolution  took  place  at  all.  '*Je  crois  que 
tons  les  bons  politiques  trouveront  que  le  Roy  s'est  mal 
governe."  *  During  the  years  that  immediately  followed 
the  Revolution  this  balance  of  feeling  and  opinion  became 
her  normal  attitude.  She  knew  that  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  not  spurious,  ^  and  it  is  characteristic  of  her  that  she 
did  not  allow  herself  to  be  persuaded  that  he  was,  although 
such  a  belief  would  have  gone  far  to  render  her 
position  less  difficult;  but  it  is  equally  characteristic  that 
she  felt  that  he  must  make  the  best  of  his  chances, 
whatever  they  might  be.  If  he  failed  to  do  so,  it  was  no 
reason  why  she  should  not  use  her  own  opportunities  as 
best  she  might.  This  watchful  neutrality  she  seems  more 
or  less  to  have  maintained  till  the  Act  of  Settlement  con- 
ferred on  her  a  vested  right,  and  definitely  preferred  her 
claim  to  that  of  her  Stuart  cousin.  ^ 

In  the  beginning  of  November  1688,  Sophia  wrote  to 
Leibniz  on  the  subject  of  William's  preparations.  She 
awaits  the  result  with  impatience ;  she  believes  that  William 
has  received  an  invitation  from  the  Protestants  of  England 
to  secure  their  liberties  and  their  religion,  and  as  a  good 
Protestant,  she  has  no  word  of  censure ;  but  she  clearly 
sympathizes  with  James'  unwillingness  to  believe  that  his 
own  nephew  would  lift  up  his  hand  against  him.  *  In 
William's  preparations  the  Duke  of  Hanover  had  no 
share.  In  spite  of  his  adhering  to  the  Protestant  cause, 
and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had,  earlier  in  the 
year,     been     a    member    of    the    Magdeburg    Conference 

1  Correspondence  i.,  p.  73. 

2  Ibid.,  iii.,  p.  102. 

3  Cf.  Dr.  Ward's  article  on  the  Hanoverian  Succession  in  the  English 
Hisiorical  Review,  vol.  i, 

*  Correspondance,  i.,  58. 


3i8  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

which  provided  for  the  defence  of  the  empire  against 
the  French,  Ernest  Augustus  remained  neutral  through- 
out. In  congratulating  Wilham,  Sophia  wrote  kindly  of  James. 
It  has  pleased  God  to  make  William  the  protector 
of  our  religion  and  one  must  pray  for  his  prosperity ; 
"but  I  have  no  complaint  to  make  of  King  James, 
who  has  honoured  me  with  his  friendship."  ^  When  the 
deed  was  done,  and  James  had  fallen,  Ernest  Augustus 
reverted  to  his  traditional  policy,  and  the  vigour  with  which 
he  prosecuted  the  wars  with  France  and  with  the  Turks 
gained  for  him,  in  1692,  his  investiture  as  Elector  of  Hanover 
(although  the  actual  admission  of  a  ninth  member  into  the 
Electoral  College  did  not  take  place  till  17 14).  Bishop 
Burnet  believed  that  to  himself  belonged  the  credit  of 
persuading  the  House  of  Hanover  to  adopt  a  line  of  definite 
antagonism  to  the  French, "  and  it  is  in  a  letter  to  Burnet 
that  Sophia  makes  one  of  her  first  references  to  the  succes- 
sion. ^  William  had  proposed  that  Sophia's  name  should 
be  inserted  in  the  Bill  of  Rights,  but  it  was  thought  wiser 
not  to  commit  the  country  to  the  Hanoverian  line,  and  it 
was  certainly  not  in  the  interests  of  the  Grand  Alliance  to 
bar  the  claim  of  the  House  of  Savoy,  who,  as  descendants 
of  Charles  I.  through  Henrietta  of  Orleans,  were  nearer 
the  direct  line.  Burnet  had  given  enthusiastic  support  to 
this  proposal,  and  Sophia  thanked  him  warmly.  His  kind- 
ness had  given  her  greater  pleasure  than  if  his  efforts  had 
met  with  better  success.  "  For  I  am  too  old  to  think  of 
any  other  kingdom  than  that  of  Heaven,  and  for  my  sons, 
they  must  always  be  dedicated  to  their  king  and  country."  ^ 
Meanwhile,  the  birth  of  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  tended  to 


1  Correspondance,  i.,  74. 

'  History  of  my  Own   Time,  1st  edn.  i ,  p.  757. 

*  Correspondance,  i.,  75. 

<  The  allusion  is  to  the  Emperor. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  319 

diminish  the  chances  of  a  Hanoverian  succession,  and  as 
Dr.  Ward  has  pointed  out,  ^  the  question  of  the  succession 
really  remained  in  abeyance  till  the  death  of  the  little  prince. 
Sophia  continued,  for  three  years,  to  correspond  with  the 
exiled  James,  and  she  and  Elizabeth  Charlotte  made  an 
amiable  attempt  to  reconcile  him  to  his  daughter.  Queen 
Mary.  The  attempt  was  foredoomed  to  failure ;  but  the  fact 
that  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  could  express  to  her  aunt  the 
hope  that  William  would  adopt  the  little  Prince  of  Wales 
as  his  heir,  indicates  how  far  the  succession  had  vanished 
from  the  immediate  interests  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 
Meanwhile,  Sophia's  attention  was  fully  occupied.  She  had 
to  mourn,  in  1690,  the  death  of  her  second  son,  Frederic 
Augustus,  and  in  the  following  year,  that  of  her  fourth  son, 
Charles  Philip,  both  of  whom,  after  rendering  good  service 
to  the  Emperor,  fell  in  the  struggle  with  the  Infidel.  The 
negotiations  which  preceded  the  creation  of  a  ninth  electorate 
for  the  House  of  Hanover,  in  which  Sophia  had  to  invoke 
the  aid  of  William  III.,  required  a  concentrated  attention 
on  the  part  of  the  aspirants  to  that  dignity.  Soon  after 
success  in  this  matter  had  been  attained,  there  occurred 
the  tragic  incident  which  closed  the  public  life  of  Sophia 
Dorothea,  who  now  bore  the  title  of  Electoral  Princess. 
It  is  doubtful  if  we  shall  ever  know  the  whole  of  that 
mystery  of  iniquity  which  was  enacted  at  Hanover  in  the 
year  1694.  If  Sophia  Dorothea  was  guilty  there  were  many 
circumstances  to  palliate  her  guilt.  The  marriage  had  been 
entirely  a  matter  of  convenience;  her  husband  was  a  cold 
and  austere  man,  whose  behaviour  to  his  mother  more  than 
once    called    forth  the  indignation  of  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  ^ 

1  English  Historical  Review,  vol.  i.,  p.  485. 

2  "Das  der  churfiirst  ein  struckener  storiger  herr  ist,  habe  ich  gar  wohl 
verspiirt,  wie  sie  hir  waren . . .  Wohrinen  er  aber  das  groste  unrecht  hatt, 
ist  mitt  seiner  frau  mutter  so  zu  leben,  deren  er  doch  alien  respect  schuldig 
ist."     Briefe  der  Elis.  Char.,  vol,  i„  p.  281.  (22  April  1702). 


320  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

and  who  behaved  no  better  to  his  unloved  wife.  The 
ducal  palace  at  Hanover  was  ruled  by  the  infamous  Platen 
gang,  the  mistresses  of  the  Elector  and  the  Electoral  Prince. 
Sophia  Dorothea  was  probably  guilty;  she  may  have 
been  the  guilty  victim  of  a  conspiracy ;  but  with  any  such 
conspiracy  there  is  not  a  tittle  of  evidence  to  connect  the 
Electress.  If  a  conspiracy  to  ruin  the  Electoral  Princess 
was  in  the  interests  of  anyone,  it  was  in  the  interests  of 
Sophia's  enemies.  She  certainly  had  not  the  power,  and 
may  not  have  had  the  wish,  to  make,  in  behalf  of  the 
prisoner  of  Ahlden,  an  interference  which  Sophia  Dorothea's 
own  parents  do  not  seem  to  have  attempted. 

The  triumph  of  the  Platens,  which  had  driven  the  Electoral 
Princess  into  an  intrigue  with  Count  Konigsmark,  had  led 
Sophia,  seven  years  before  the  fall  of  her  daughter-in-law, 
to  desert  the  Court  at  Hanover  for  the  Herrenhausen, 
some  three  miles  from  Hanover,  where  she  might  indulge 
to  the  full  the  taste  for  gardening  which  was  one  of  her 
Stuart  characteristics.  Toland,  who  visited  her  in  1702, 
wrote  thus  of  the  impression  made  on  him  :^ — ''The  Elec- 
tress is  three  and  seventy  years  of  age,  which  she  bears 
so  wonderfully  well,  that  had  I  not  many  vouchers,  I 
should  scarce  venture  to  relate  it.  She  has  ever  enjoyed 
extraordinary  health,  which  keeps  her  still  very  vigorous,  of 
a  cheerful  countenance,  and  a  merry  Disposition.  She  steps 
as  firm  and  erect  as  any  young  Lady,  has  not  one  wrinkle 
in  her  Face,  which  is  still  very  agreeable,  nor  one  Tooth  out 
of  her  Head,  and  reads  without  Spectacles,  as  I  often  saw  her 
do  Letters  of  a  small  Character  in  the  dusk  of  the  Evening. 
She's  as  great  a  worker  as  our  late  Queen  [Mary],  and 
you  cannot  turn  yourself  in  the  Palace  without  meeting 
some  Monuments  of  her  Industry,  all  the  Chairs  of  the 
Presence  Chamber  being  wrought  with  her  own  Hands. . . . 
She's  the  greatest  and  most  constant  Walker  I  ever  knew, 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  321 

never  missing    a    Day,    if  it    proves    fair,    for    one    or  two 

hours,  and  often  more  in  the  fine  Garden  of  Hernhausen 

She  speaks  five  Languages  so  well  that  by  her  Accent  it 
might  well  be  a  Dispute  which  of  'em  was  her  first.  They 
are  Low-Dutch,  German,  French,  Italian,  and  English,  which 
last  she  speaks  as  truly  and  easily  as  any  Native.  But 
indeed  the  Electress  is  so  intirely  English  in  her  person, 
in  her  Behaviour,  in  her  Humor,  and  all  her  Inclinations,  that 
naturally  she  could  not  miss  of  any  thing  which  peculiarly 
belongs  to  our  Hand."  ^ 

The  years  spent  at  the  Herrenhausen,  in  comparative 
seclusion,  have  given  us  the  correspondence  of  Sophia  and 
Leibniz,  which  is  so  valuable  for  the  biographers  of  both. 
It  continued  up  to  the  death  of  Sophia  in  17 14,  and,  in 
spite  of  the  engrossing  interests  of  her  closing  years,  it 
never  became  wholly  political ;  but  it  is  during  this  period, 
while  the  question  of  the  Succession  was  no  longer  of  press- 
ing importance,  that  her  letters  are  almost  entirely  devot- 
ed to  religious  and  philosophical  questions.  Projects  for 
religious  re-union,  in  the  discussion  of  which  Leibniz  had 
been  engaged  for  over  twenty  years,  had  long  interested 
Sophia.  She  had  discussed  with  her  brother,  the  Elector, 
a  re-union  of  Lutherans  and  Calvinists, "  and  had  dismissed 
as  chimerical  Spinola's  scheme  for  a  reconciliation  on  a 
wider  basis.  ^  At  the  time  when  Leibniz  became  more  im- 
mediately attached  to  her  person,  the  religious  world  was 
debating  Spinola's  scheme  in  connexion  with  Bossuet's  **  Ex- 
position de  la  foi  de  I'eglise  catholique."  Sophia's  sister, 
the  Abbess  of  Maubuisson,  knew  Bossuet  well,  and  a  long  cor- 
respondence ensued  between  Leibniz,  Bossuet,  and  Madame 

*   Accounts  of  the  Courts  of  Prussia  and  Hanover,  pp.  66 — 68. 

2  Bodemann,  i.,  p.  321. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  347.  A  project  of  this  nature  was  actually  formulated  in 
connexion  with  the  mamage  of  Sophia's  daughter  to  the  Elector  of  Bran- 
denburg. 


322  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

de  Brisson.  It  is  possible  that  the  controversy  was  not 
without  poHtical  importance;  if  Sophia  could  be  induced 
to  follow  the  example  of  so  many  of  her  nearest  relatives, 
and  enter  the  Roman  obedience,  a  Stuart  Restoration  would 
be  much  more  easily  brought  about.  Sophia,  of  course,  was 
never  in  any  danger.  Her  interest  in  the  subject  was 
the  result,  not  of  any  deep  religious  feeling,  but  of  an 
intellectual  curiosity  which  was  one  of  the  bonds  that  connect- 
ed her  with  Liebniz.  Her  whole  attitude  to  religion  was 
tolerant  and  Hberal;  it  is  easy  to  be  tolerant  when  one 
does  not  care  very  much.  Her  references  to  religious  ques- 
tions are  never  au  grand  serieux,  and  not  infrequently 
frivolous ;  it  is  quite  clear  that  religion  was  not  one  of  the 
master  passions  of  her  Hfe.  She  preserved  so  much  of 
early  training  as  to  speak  of  the  Roman  Church  as  the 
"scarlet  woman,"  although  she  envied  Roman  Catholics 
the  privilege  of  praying  for  the  dead.  One  of  her  bio- 
graphers has  misinterpreted  a  phrase  she  uses,  and  has  in- 
ferred that  she  did  not  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the 
soul.  In  point  of  fact,  she  possessed  a  commonplace 
orthodoxy,  and  placed  her  philosophical  faith  in  the  argu- 
ment from  Design.  ^  It  was  the  orthodoxy  of  a  sane  and 
healthy  temperament  and  of  an  amicable  and  kindly  dis- 
position. As  she  was  accustomed  to  say  bitter  things 
without  any  real  malice,  so  she  spoke  lightly  of  matters  of 
religion  without  any  real  irreverence,  and,  in  both  cases, 
there  was  a  calm  confidence  in  a  goodness  of  heart  of  which 
she  was  herself  conscious  and  by  which  she  beHeved  the 
world  to  be  governed.  "  How  can  we  call  God  good,"  she 
asks,  "  if  He  has  made  us  to  damn  us  eternally  ?  Dieu  mercy, 
je  me  fie  a  la  bonte  de  Dieu ;  il  ne  m'est  jamais  venu  dans 
I'esprit  qu'il  m'a  creee  pour  me  faire  du  mal . . .  pour  moy, 

1   Kemble,  State  Papers  and  Correspondance,  p.  469. 


SOPfflA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  323 

j'ay  une  entiere  confiance  en  luy."*  To  a  broad  view  of  this 
nature,  any  purely  ecclesiastical  controversy  was  naturally 
repugnant.  "It  is  not  the  name  of  Catholic  or  of  Reformed 
that  will  save  us,  but  to  manifest  our  faith  by  our  good 
works."  ^  If  she  disliked  Roman  Catholicism  at  all,  it  was 
because  its  exclusiveness  seemed  to  her  un-christian.  ^  So  far 
as  this  attitude  was  consistent  with  Calvinism,  she  remained 
true  to  the  faith  of  the  Heidleberg  Catechism  in  which 
she  had  been  educated,  but  she  could,  logically,  have  no 
objection  to  becoming  a  Protestant  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, between  which  and  Calvinism  she  saw  but  little  differ- 
ence. '  Unlike  her  grandfather  and  her  uncle,  she  had 
thus  some  sympathy  with  the  Scottish  Church,  and  disliked 
Queen  Anne's  attempts  to  persecute  Presbyterian  Dissenters 
in  England  and  to  favour  Episcopalian  Dissenters  in  Scot- 
land.^ 

Similarly,  the  Electress's  constant  references  to  philosoph- 
ical questions  do  not  impress  one  with  any  belief  in  her 
powers  as  a  metaphysician.  She  had  never  taken  her 
Descartes  too  seriously,  and  used  to  recommend  his  writings 
to  her  brother  as  an  excellent  cure  for  insomnia.^  She 
liked  to  have  Leibniz  explain  his  views  to  her,  but  he  did 
not  find  her  a  specially  acute  disciple.  The  very  width 
of  her  interest  constitutes  a  strong  presumption  against 
its  depth :  philosophy,  mathematics,  physics  come  all  alike 
to  her.  She  kept  them,  moreover,  in  their  due  place; 
when  distinguished  strangers  visited  her,  she  was  annoyed 
if  they  did  not  talk  of  something  more  exciting.  No  less 
a  person  than  Peter  the  Great  offended  in  this  way.    Her 

^    Correspondance,  ii.,  p.  96. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  97. 

3  Macpherson's  Original  Papers,  ii.,  p.  5CX). 

4  Cotrespondance,  i.,  75;  Klopp,  Fall  d.  Hauses  Stuart,  x,,  240. 
6  Ibid.,  ii.,  403. 

6  Bodemann,  i.,  352. 


324  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

interest  in  literature  was  probably  more  genuine.  She 
read  romances  in  her  later  years — Don  Quixote  and  Don 
Guzman  d'Alfarache,  (doubtless,  in  the  original).  Her  Eng- 
lish correspondents  kept  her  informed  of  Mr.  Pope's  latest 
poem,  Mr.  Addison's  last  essay,  and  Temple's  History, 
as  well  as  of  the  writings  of  Mr.  Locke.  Mr.  Addison 
C'le  bel  esprit")  visited  Hanover  and  earned  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  a  very  good,  and  what  is  more  extraordinary, 
a  very  modest  poet.  ^  The  noise  created  by  the  publication 
of  Ayliffe's  ''History  of  the  University  of  Oxford"  reached 
the  Herrenhausen  and  its  mistress.  Leibniz,  in  an  interest- 
ing passage,  summed  up  the  literary  tastes  of  the  Electress 
and  her  daughter  as  something  at  once  ''spirituel  et  re- 
jouissant."  They  love  pretty  satires,  quaint  and  amusing 
tales,  and  reHgious  treatises  not  too  bigoted.^ 

The  Duke  of  Gloucester  died  in  August  1700.  The 
other  obstacle  in  Sophia's  path  had  been  removed  four 
years  earHer,  when  the  House  of  Savoy  forfeited  whatever 
chance  they  had,  by  detaching  themselves  from  the  Grand 
AUiance.  In  the  end  of  1698,  when  King  William  was 
drinking  Duke  George  William's  champagne  at  Celle,  the 
Duchess  of  Celle  (Eleonore  d'Olbreuse)  had  suggested  to 
him  that  the  little  Duke  of  Gloucester  might  be  married 
to  her  own  and  Sophia's  grand- daughter,  the  younger 
Sophia  Dorothea.  The  child's  father  was  now  the  Elector 
George  Lewis,  for  Sophia's  husband,  Ernest  Augustus,  had 
died  in  the  course  of  the  year  1698.  This  suggested  consolid- 
ation of  the  family  claims  led  to  the  re-opening  of  the 
Succession  question,  which  Leibniz  had  for  some  years 
desired,  and  WiUiam  III.  again  began  to  consider  the 
feasibihty  of  a  formal  recognition  of  Sophia's  claims.  The 
death    of  the  little  Duke  raised  the  problem  to  a  position 

1    Correspondance,  iii.,  pp.  6,   II. 
3  Ibid.,  ii.,  87. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  325 

of  primary  importance.  The  boy  died  on  the  7th  August. 
On  the  1 8th,  the  Electress-Dowager  wrote  to  Leibniz 
announcing  the  journey  of  the  Duke  of  Celle  to  the  Loo, 
to  console  King  William  on  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Gloucester,  **who  has  decamped  three  days  after  cele- 
brating the  anniversary  of  his  birth.  ...  If  I  were  younger, 
I  might  flatter  myself  with  the  hope  of  a  crown,  but  at 
present,  if  I  had  the  choice,  I  should  prefer  to  add 
to  my  years  rather  than  to  my  dignity."  ^  A  few  weeks  later, 
she  wrote  in  a  similar  strain:  "If  I  were  thirty  years 
younger,  I  should  think  sufficiently  well  of  my  blood  and 
of  my  religion  to  believe  that  they  considered  me  in  Eng- 
land. But  as  there  is  Httle  appearance  that  I  shall  survive 
two  persons  much  younger  than  I  (though  much  more 
delicate),  there  is  reason  to  fear  that,  after  my  death, 
they  will  regard  my  sons  as  strangers.  My  eldest  son  has 
been  much  more  accustomed  to  play  the  sovereign  than 
the  poor  Prince  of  Wales  who  is  too  young  to  profit  by 
the  example  of  the  King  of  France,  and  who  will  apparently 
be  so  anxious  to  secure  what  the  King  his  father  as  fool- 
ishly lost,  that  they  can  do  with  him  what  they  will." ' 
This  letter  has  been  supposed  to  bear  marks  of  Jacobite 
sympathies:  but  it  was  written  on  the  way  to  the  Loo  to 
meet  King  William,  and  it  closes  with  the  admission :  "  Je 
ne  suis  pas  si  philosophe  ou  si  etourdic  comme  vous  pouvez 
croire  que  je  n'aime  entendre  parler  d'une  couronne."  The 
sentence  seems  to  us  to  express  precisely  the  attitude  of 
the  Electress,  all  through  the  years  which  had  elapsed  since 
the  Revolution. 

The  Conference  at  the  Loo  was  followed  by  the  passing 
of  the  Act  of  Settlement,  which  received  the  royal  assent 
in    the    summer    of    1701.     Toland,   who  accompanied  the 

1  Cotrespondance,  ii.,  p.  206. 

2  Correspondance,  ii.,  pp.  314 — 5. 


326  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

mission  which  formally  conveyed  the  news  to  the  Electress, 
has  given  us  a  description  of  the  manner  in  which  she 
received  it : — "  I  was  the  first  who  had  the  Honor 
of  kneeling  and  kissing  her  hand  on  account  of  the  Act 
of  Succession;  and  she  said,  among  other  discourse,  that 
she  was  afraid  the  Nation  had  already  repented  their  choice 
of  an  old  Woman,  but  that  she  hop'd  none  of  her  posterity 
wou'd  give  them  any  Reason  to  grow  weary  of  their 
Dominion.  I  answer'd  that  the  English  had  too  well  con- 
sider'd  what  they  did  to  change  their  minds  so  soon,  and 
that  they  still  remember'd  they  were  never  so  happy  as 
when  they  were  last  under  a  Woman's  Government." ' 

The  Act  of  Settlement  gave  Sophia  an  assured  position, 
and  there  could  be  no  longer  any  question  of  delicacy,  once 
she  had  accepted  the  offer  now  made.  King  William  pro- 
posed to  invite  Sophia  to  England,  but  his  death  on  March 
8th,  1702,  put  an  end  to  the  project.  Queen  Anne  would 
have  but  one  Court  in  England.  It  was,  perhaps,  a  result 
of  the  coldness  of  the  new  sovereign,  and,  perhaps,  also 
an  effect  of  the  sound  constitutional  sermons  which  the 
Whigs  inflicted  upon  the  heiress  by  Parliamentary  right,  that 
Sophia,  in  the  autumn  of  1702  administered  a  reproof  to 
her  supporters,  who,  like  Pope  Alexander  VII.  and  Queen 
Christina,  failed  to  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  House 
of  Brunswick.  ''You  have  good  reason,"  she  wrote  to 
Leibniz,  ''to  say  that  the  English  are  much  mistaken  if  they 
believe  that  I  am  totally  engrossed  with  the  affairs  of 
England."^  At  the  same  time  she  took  a  keen  interest  in 
the  next  move  in  the  Succession  controversy —the  Scottish 
Union  question.  On  both  sides  this  was  regarded  as  a 
critical  point.  Not  only  were  there  in  Scotland  two  parties 
strongly  opposed  to  the  Union — the  avowed  Jacobites  and 

1  Courts  of  Russia  and  Hanover,  p.  69. 

2  Correspondance,  iii.,  p,  369. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  327 

the  Patriot  or  Country  party,  who  disliked  English  influence 
in  Scotland — but  there  was  no  important  section  of  the 
community  who  regarded  the  Union  as  in  itself  a  boon.  It 
might  be  purchased  with  freedom  of  trade  and  guarantees 
of  various  sorts ;  in  itself  the  whole  nation  was  opposed 
to  it.  If  Scotland  remained  a  separate  Kingdom  at  the 
death  of  Queen  Anne,  a  combination  of  Cavaliers  and 
Patriots  might  not  improbably  bring  about  a  Stuart 
Restoration  in  Scotland,  which  would  prove  of  almost 
incalculable  value  to  the  English  Jacobites.  It  was  fully 
recognized  that  the  scene  of  the  struggle  was  in  Parliament 
Square  and  not  at  Westminster.  As  early  as  April  1702, 
Sophia's  Scottish  agents  were  instructed  to  lay  stress  on 
the  fact  that  the  Queen,  her  mother,  had  been  born  in  Scot- 
land and  that  the  Electress  regarded  herself  as  a  Scots- 
woman. ^  The  Scottish  Act  of  Security  of  1703,  while  it 
proved  the  occasion  for  the  actual  Union,  seemed  at  first  to 
place  serious  obstacles  in  the  way,  and  this  misfortune  was 
followed  by  an  imbroglio  with  Queen  Anne,  brought  about 
by  an  unfortunate  letter,  written  by  Leibniz,  urging  the 
House  of  Commons  to  invite  the  Electress  to  England.  The 
proposal  which,  in  the  strange  condition  of  English  politics, 
was  supported  by  the  Tories  and  opposed  by  the  Whigs, 
was  easily  defeated,  but  it  led  to  the  naturalization  of  the 
Electress  and  her  family,  and  to  the  conferment  of  the  title 
of  Duke  of  Cambridge  upon  the  Electoral  Prince.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  ill-will  of  Queen  Anne  became  more 
avowed,  and  it  clearly  annoyed  Sophia,  who  began  to  show 
signs  of  irritability.  Leibniz,  who  appreciated  the  import- 
ance of  the  struggle  (and  tried  to  remove  Scottish  objec- 
tions to  the  small  number  of  representatives  of  Scotland 
under    the    proposed    Union,    by   urging  that  less  Scottish 

1  Correspondance,  ii.,  p.  346. 


328  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

silver  would  be  spent  in  London),  received  a  distinct 
rebuke  for  writing  to  Sophia  about  the  Union  and  the 
Succession.  The  Electress  did  not  speak  of  the  affairs  of 
England  and  Scotland :  she  protested  that  they  did  not  in 
the  least  interest  her.  The  amusements  of  Leibniz  at  Berlin 
were  much  more  important.  ^  This  has  been  taken  some- 
what seriously,  and  it  is  possible  that  after  the  death  of 
her  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  the  old  Electress  became 
slightly  less  interested  in  the  affairs  of  this  world.  But  the 
protest  to  Leibniz  was  merely  the  product  of  momentary 
annoyance.  A  series  of  unpubHshed  letters,  preserved  in 
the  Staats-archiv  at  Hanover,  which  the  present  writer  had 
the  privilege  of  examining  in  1898,  shows  how  keenly  the 
Electress  watched  the  progress  of  the  question.  The  Act 
of  Union  which  secured  the  Hanoverian  Succession  in  Scot- 
land was  only  less  critical,  for  her  purpose,  than  the  War 
of  the  Spanish  Succession,  which  had  by  this  time  (1707) 
definitely  decided  that  the  French  would  never  be  able  to 
force  the  Stuarts  on  an  unwilling  people. 

Seven  years  elapsed  between  the  Union  of  the  Kingdoms 
and  the  death  of  Queen  Anne,  and  the  Tory  re-action  of 
the  end  of  the  reign  was  a  source  of  considerable  anxiety 
to  the  friends  of  the  Succession.  The  Whigs  were  determined 
to  retain  the  new  dynasty  under  their  own  exclusive  patro- 
nage, and  the  Tories  were  divided  between  yearnings  for 
the  ancient  House  and  a  desire  to  stand  well  with  Queen 
Anne's  successor,  whoever  he  might  be.  The  situation  was 
thus  extremely  complicated,  and  one  cannot  be  surprised  that 
a  crisis  did  finally  arise.  The  Electress  was  probably  justified 
in  regarding  Anne  as,  in  her  later  years,  a  Jacobite  at  heart, 
and  her  advisers  were  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  obtain- 
ing for  her,  before  the  Queen's  death,  an  establishment  in 

^  Correspondance,  iii.,  p.  358. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  329 

England  and  such  an  allowance  from  Parliament  as  had, 
during  William's  reign,  been  granted  to  the  Princess  Anne. 
The  Peace  of  Utrecht  was  so  far  favourable  that  it  had, 
for  the  first  time,  obtained  a  general  European  recognition 
of  the  principles  of  the  Act  of  Settlement,  but  the  desertion 
of  the  Allies  by  England,  and  the  conclusion  of  peace 
with  France  had  created  a  new  menace  to  the  House  of 
Hanover.  Queen  Anne's  health  was  such  that  the  end 
could  not  be  far  off,  and  it  must  find  the  Hanoverian 
party  prepared.  It  is  significant  that,  in  the  summer  of 
1713,  the  Electoral  Princess  (Caroline  of  Anspach)  had 
begun  to  learn  English,  although  the  Elector  himself  had 
resisted  the  persuasions  of  Leibniz  to  master  the  tongue  of 
his  future  subjects.  The  question  of  an  establishment  for 
the  Electoral  Prince  was  being  discussed,  when  the  crisis 
was  suddenly  brought  about  by  an  unfortunate  demand 
that  the  Prince  should,  as  Duke  of  Cambridge,  receive  a 
writ  of  summons  to  the  House  of  Lords.  Whether  the 
Electress  herself  was  responsible  for  this  step  is  uncertain ; 
it  is  probable  that  her  agents  and  the  Whig  politicians 
had  considerably  bettered  her  instructions. 

Queen  Anne  was  much  irritated  by  this  demand  that 
the  Electoral  Prince  should  reside  in  England  during  her 
life-time,  and,  on  the  19th  May,  17 14,  she  wrote  her 
famous  letter  to  the  Electress: — "Madam,  my  sister  and 
aunt,  since  the  right  of  succession  to  my  kingdom  has 
been  declared  to  belong  to  you  and  your  family,  there 
have  always  been  evil  intentioned  persons  who,  from  regard 
to  their  private  interests,  have  entered  into  designs  to 
establish  in  my  dominions,  during  my  lifetime,  a  prince 
of  your  blood.  I  had  never  imagined  till  now  that  this 
project  would  have  progressed  so  far  as  to  have  had  the 
slightest  effect  on  your  mind.  But  as  I  have  lately  under- 
stood, from  public  reports  which  have  very  speedily  spread 


330  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

abroad,  that  your  Electoral  Highness  shares  this  view,  it 
is  important  for  the  succession  of  your  family  that  I  should 
tell  you  that  such  conduct  will  certainly  be  productive  of 
consequences  prejudicial  to  the  succession  itself,  which  has 
no  security  except  while  the  sovereign  who  actually  wears 
the  crown  retains  her  rights.  There  are  here  (and  it  is 
this  which  is  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble)  many  seditious 
spirits,  and  I  leave  you  to  imagine  what  trouble  they  may 
be  able  to  produce  if  they  have  any  pretext  for  raising 
an  insurrection.  I  am  sure  therefore  that  you  will  never 
consent  to  anything  which  can  disturb  my  peace  or  that  of 
my  subjects. 

''Let  me  know,  with  the  same  frankness  that  I  have  shown 
to  you,  what  you  think  necessary  to  make  the  Succession 
doubly  secure ;  I  will  concur  with  zeal,  as  long  as  it  does 
not  derogate  from  my  dignity,  which  I  am  resolved  to 
maintain."  ^ 

A  still  more  strongly  worded  letter  was  addressed  to  the 
Elecioral  Prince.  Both  letters  reached  Hanover  on  Wed- 
nesday, June  6th,  and  their  contents  much  disturbed  the 
aged  Electress.  She  was  now  eighty-four  years  of  age, 
and  Queen  Anne  was  scarcely  fifty.  "  I  believe  I  am  more 
ill  than  she  is,"  she  had  written  two  months  earlier, 
"although,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  have  only  that  sad 
complaint  of  being  old,  which  is  beyond  remedy."  "  The 
long  day's  task  seemed  to  have  been  accomplished,  and 
the  fruits  of  victory  all  but  attained,  when  this  letter 
placed  everything  once  more  in  jeopardy.  At  least,  so 
the  Electress  deemed,  and  she  at  once  took  steps  to 
regain  the  ground  that  had  been  lost.  The  Countess  of 
Biickeburg,  who  was  with  her  during  these  last  days,  has 
described  to  us  the  effects  of  the  letters  upon  the  Electress. 

1   Correspondance,  iii.,  pp.  454 — 5. 
-  Ibid.,  iii.,  p.  433. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  331 

On  the  Wednesday  afternoon  she  remarked,  *'  Cette  affaire 
me  rendra  asseurement  malade.  J'y  succomberay."  *  But 
she  was  not  too  much  overcome  to  send  copies  of  the 
letters  to  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  and  she  was  deter- 
mined to  show  the  world  that  if  her  children  lost  the 
three  crowns,  it  was  not  through  her  fault.  Next  day,  the 
letters  were  still  the  main  theme  of  her  conversation,  and 
she  complained  of  feeling  ill.  On  Friday,  she  was  better. 
"  Not  only  did  she  dine  in  public,  but  when,  in  the  even- 
ing, the  time  came  for  her  to  walk,  she  shewed  a  strong 
desire  to  do  so,  although  the  weather  was  somewhat  cloudy 
and  it  threatened  to  rain.  She  declined  the  bearer  and 
walked  as  usual,  talking  ever  of  the  English  affairs  with 
the  Electoral  Princess.  These  unfortunate  affairs  had  taken 
the  firmest  hold  of  her  heart,  and  the  Queen's  Letter . . . 
had  made  the  deepest  impression  on  our  good  Electress." 
After  some  conversation  on  this  topic,  the  Electress  turned 
to  the  Countess,  and  walking  between  the  Princess  and 
her,  began  to  talk  of  things  in  general.  Suddenly  she  felt 
ill  and  decided  to  return  to  her  room.  Rain  began  to 
fall,  and  as  she  quickened  her  steps  in  order  to  find  shelter, 
she  said,  "I  am  very  ill;  give  me  your  hand."  In  a  few 
minutes  she  had  passed  away. 

The  Countess  of  Biickeburg  was  doubtless  right  when 
she  said  that,  in  her  opinion.  Queen  Anne's  letter  was 
"la  malheureuse  cause  exterieure  de  la  perte  irreparable," 
but  the  tradition  that  the  Electress  died  of  grief  on  receiv- 
ing the  letter  cannot  be  seriously  accepted.  The  emotion 
it  called  forth  afforded  the  occasion  for  a  mortal  seizure, 
but  the  Electress  had  long  known  of  a  tendency  to  apo- 
plexy. When  Philip  of  Orleans  died  in  1701,  Leibniz 
had   taken   the    opportunity  of  warning  his  mistress  of  the 

1  Corresfondance,  iii.,  pp.  457 — 462. 


332  FIVE  STUART  PRINCESSES 

danger  of  an  apoplectic  seizure.  ^  Since  then,  thirteen 
years  had  elapsed,  and  the  end  could  not  now  have  been 
long  delayed. 

The  character  of  the  Electress  Sophia  bears,  on  the 
whole,  a  considerable  resemblance  to  that  of  her  great- 
grandmother,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots.  There  was  one  grand 
difference ;  Mary  was  a  child  of  the  Italian  Renaissance, 
Sophia  of  the  Heidleberg  Catechism.  A  humanistic  edu- 
cation was  productive  of  a  simplicity  of  moral  outlook 
which  was  lacking  in  the  training  of  Calvinism.  Moral 
restraint  may  have  been  more  irksome  to  Mary,  but  for- 
giveness was  less  natural  to  Sophia.  This  fundamental 
contrast  in  education  and  in  conception  of  life  may  be 
traced  throughout  the  career  of  both.  The  Heidleberg 
Catechism  was  admirably  suited  to  direct  Sophia's  course 
through  life;  Mary  was,  after  her  departure  from  France, 
continuously  out  of  touch  with  her  surroundings.  But 
nature  had,  in  many  respects,  dowered  them  alike.  Both 
were  women  of  remarkable  personal  charm;  both  were 
possessed  of  a  gracious  tolerance  which  found  alike  in  the 
world  of  thought  and  in  the  world  of  men  a  human  interest 
which  rendered  both  the  majority  of  opinions  and  the 
majority  of  mankind  at  least  tolerable.  In  both  there  was 
combined  with  robustness  of  body,  a  courageous  manHness 
of  disposition,  a  courage  both  moral  and  physical.  To 
Sophia's  fearlessness  in  moments  of  grave  bodily  danger, 
her  niece,  Elizabeth  Charlotte,  bears  constant  witness.  Both 
were  free  from  the  taint  of  coarseness  which  marked  so 
many    of   their    contemporaries,    but    both   had    the  power 

1  Correspondance,  ii.,  pp.  360 — 1.  There  are  slight  sketches  of  Sophia  in 
Mrs.  Everett-Green's  Lives  of  the  Princesses  of  England,  (Life  of  Elizabeth  of 
Bohemia)  and  in  Mrs.  Ty tier's  Six  Royal  Ladies  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 
In  addition  to  works  already  quoted,  the  reader  may  consult  the  following: 
Noeldeke  :  Kurfihsiin  Sophie  von  Hannover  ;  and  Schaumann  :  Sophie  Dorothea 
und  Kurfiirstin  Sophie  von  Hannover. 


SOPHIA,  ELECTRESS  OF  HANOVER  333 

of  bitter  speech  and  could  aim  straight  and  wound  cruelly. 
In  both,  the  tender  emotions  were  strongly  developed,  and 
both  inspired  the  warmest  affection  in  others.  Neither  was 
a  woman  of  great  intellectual  power;  the  commonplace 
maxims  which  are  so  numerous  in  Mary's  letters,  and  the 
simple  proverbs  which  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  never  tires 
of  quoting  from  her  aunt,  are  not  the  marks  of  a  Queen 
EHzabeth  or  an  Empress  Catherine.  Sophia  had  probably 
the  keener  intellect,  Mary  the  more  cultivated  appreciation 
of  literary  form  and  grace. 

The  political  position  of  both  ahke  was  influenced  by 
proximity  to  the  throne  of  England,  and  each  regarded 
the  recognition  of  her  position  of  heir-presumptive  as  the 
ultimate  aim  of  her  policy.  Mary  failed  to  rule ;  Sophia 
missed,  by  two  months,  the  opportunity  of  ruling,  but 
she  had  already  given  signs  of  an  ability  to  deal  with 
men  which  Mary  never  evinced.  She  had  mastered  the 
condition  of  English  politics,  and,  had  Anne  died  some 
years  earlier,  British  history  might  have  known  another 
great  Queen.  The  greatest  tribute  to  her  Hfe  is  the  fact 
that  she  earned  from  Leibniz  this  epitaph :  *'  Ce  n'est  pas 
elle,  c'est  Hanover,  c'est  I'Angleterre,  c'est  le  monde,  c'est 
moy  qui  y  aye  perdu." 


INDEX 


Act  of  Settlement,  308,  317,  325,  329. 
Adolph  of  Sweden,  Prince,  300. 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  Peace  of,  265. 
Alexander  VI.,  Bull,  175. 
Alexander  VII.,  Pope,  326. 
Amsterdam,  177  195. 

Plot  to  capture,  196,  197. 
Anhalt   {see  Christian  of  Anhalt). 
Anne   of  Austria,   Queen  Regent, 

Princess  Henriette  and,  236,  251, 

262. 
Anne  of  Beaujeu,  224. 
Anne  of  Denmark,  Queen  of  James  I., 

50,  52,  71- 
Anne,  Queen : — 
Attitude  towards  Dissenters,  323. 


Attitude   towards   Electress    So- 
phia, 326,  327. 

Death,  328, 

Her  children,  316. 

Letter   to  Electoral  Prince,  330. 

Letter  to  Electress  Sophia,  329. 
Antony  Ulric  of  Wolfenbiittel,  309, 
Apsley  Elizabeth,  account  of  Elec- 
tress Palatine,  90. 
ArUngton,     opponent     of    French 

alliance,  266. 
Augsburg,  League  of,  309. 
Augsburg  Treaty  of,  78. 
Augustus  Frederic  of  Wolfenbiittel, 

309,  310- 


B 


Bacon,  Sir  Francis: — 

Masque,  76. 

On  Prince  Henry,  66. 
Baden  Durlach,  Marquis  of,  124, 128. 
Barberini,   Cardinal,   on   death   of 

Henriette  of  Orleans,  279. 
Barendz,  179. 

Beaufort,  Jane,  wife  of  James  L,  7, 10. 
Bedford,  Lucy,  Countess  of,  133. 
Bennett,    Mrs.,    nurse   to   Princess 

Mary,  169. 


Berkeley,  Sir  John,  Princess  Hen- 
rietta confided  to,  231. 

Bethlen  Gabor,  Prince  of  Transyl- 
vania, 106. 
In  Hungary,  123,  130. 

Bicker,  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam, 
195,  196,  198. 

Bill  of  Rights,  318. 

Black,  Mr.,  51. 

Blake,  rivalry  with  Van  Tromp,  207. 

Blanche  of  Castile,  224. 


336 


INDEX 


Bohemia : — 

Armies  mutiny,  iii. 

Insurrection,  94. 

Spoil  of  foreign  aristocracy,  159. 

State  of,  121. 
Boileau,  244. 
Bossuet,  244. 

"Exposition  de  la  foi  de  I'dglise 
catholique",  321. 

Funeral  oration  on  Henrietta  of 
Orleans,  283. 

Funeral   oration  upon  Henrietta 
Maria,  229. 

Ministers  to  Henrietta  of  Orleans, 
278. 
Bouchet,  Chronicles  of  Aquitaine,  28. 
Boucquoi,  General,  106,  in. 
Bouillon,  Henry  de  la  Tour  d'Au- 

vergne,  Due  de,  70,  71,  81,  99. 
Bowes,    Thomas,    at    baptism    of 

Elizabeth  Stuart,  51. 
Brandenburg,   Elector  of,  119,  185, 

204. 


Breda,  Charles  11.  at,  193. 

Breslau,  118,  119. 

Brdzd,  Pierre  de,  40. 

Brill  captured,  174. 

Brisson,  Mme.  de,  322. 

Brittany,  Duke  of,  marries  Isabella 

of  Scotland,  29. 
Brunswick,  House  of,  301. 

Foreign  policy,  308. 
Brusset : — 

Letters  to  Mazarin,  196,  200. 

On  coup  d'itat,  198. 
Buchan,  Earl  of,  7. 
Btickeburg,  Countess  of,  on  eifects 

of  Queen  Anne's  letters  on  Elec- 

tress  Sophia,  330,  331. 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  106. 

Visits  Madrid  127,  129. 
Burgundy,  Duchess  of,  31,  38. 
Burnet,   Bishop,   advice  to   House 

of  Hanover,  318. 
Bussy,  244. 


Calabria,  Duchess  of,  31. 
Calenberg-Gottingen,  301. 
Camerarius,  92,  93,  102,   104. 
Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  90,  102,  133. 

On  loss  of  Mannheim,  129. 

On  Palatines  at  the  Hague,  131. 
Carlisle,    Earl    of,   {see  Doncaster, 

Viscount). 
Caroline  of  Anspach,  learns  English, 

329- 
Casimir,  John,  79. 
"Catholic  League",  78,  in. 
Chalons-sur-Marne,  30,  37. 
Charles  I.: — 

Bohemian  Policy,  130. 

Executed  192,  233. 


Invites    Queen    of   Bohemia  to 
England,  147. 

Reception  of  Marie  de  Medici's 
overtures,  170. 

Visits  Madrid,  127,  129. 
Charles  11. : — 

At  Breda,  193. 

At  Hague,  297. 

Attitude  towards  Netherlands,  264. 

In  Holland,  209. 

Restored,  157,  218,  237. 
Charles  VII.  :— 

Affection  for  Dauphine,  24. 

Court-factions,  32. 

Embassy  to  James  I.,  7. 

Scotch  Nobility  and,  6. 


INDEX 


337 


Charles  Louis,  Prince,  83,  147, 149, 

150,  151- 
Character,  299. 
Conduct  to  his  mother,  152. 
Correspondence  with  Sophia,  315. 
Death,  314. 

Prisoner  in  Austria,  292. 
Restored    to   Lower   Palatinate, 
150,  298. 
Charles  Philip  of  Hanover,  death, 

319- 

Charlotte  of  Hesse,  Electress  Pala- 
tine 299. 

Chartier  Alain,  8,  28. 
Oration  on  Franco-Scottish  Alli- 
ance, 9. 

Chartier,  Jean,  23,  24. 

Chartres,  Regnault  de.  Archbishop 
of  Rheims,  8. 

Choisy,  Abbd  de,  246. 
On  Henrietta,  Duchess  of  Orleans, 

243- 
Christian  of  Anhalt,  92,  93,  97,  114, 

Christian  of  Brunswick,  124,  128. 
Death,  130. 
Devotion  to  Queen  of  Bohemia, 

138. 

Sketch  of,  136. 
Christian  of  Denmark,  120,  130. 
Christian   Lewis,   Duke    of  Celle, 

301,  306. 
Christina,   Queen  of  Sweden,  156, 

306,  326. 

Interview  with  Charles  II.,  211. 


Civil  War  in  England,  229. 
Clarendon,  Lord,  protests  against- 

Elizabeth's  visiting  England,  158. 
Clermont,  Earl  of,  31. 
Cleve-Julith  Succession,  78. 
Colbert,  sent  to  Villers-Cotterets,269. 
Coligny,  Louise  de,  wife  of  William 

the  Silent,  180. 
Combe    Abbey,    Elizabeth   Stuart 

at,  54. 
Commynes  quoted,  27. 
Condd,  Prince  de,  244. 
Conti,  Prince  de,  236. 
Conway,   English  Ambassador,   at 

Prague,  114. 

Account  of  flight  from  Prague, 
117. 

Created  Viscount  Killultagh,  134. 
Cosnac,  M.,  244. 
Coucy,  Matthieu  de,  24,  27. 
Coventry,  Elizabeth  Stewart  visits, 

57. 
Craven,  William  Lord,  149, 158, 162, 

296,  297. 

Entertains  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia, 
161. 

Estates  confiscated,  151. 

Sketch  of,  140. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  136. 

Policy,  214. 

Scheme  for  league  of  European 
States,  186. 
Ciistrin  Castle,  119. 
Cuyp,  179. 


Dalkeith,  Lady,  Governess  to  Prin- 
cess Henrietta,  231. 
Escapes  to  France,  232. 

Darnley,    John    Stewart    Earl    of, 
sketch  of,  8. 


De  Thou,  French  Ambassador  at 
Hague,  212,  217. 
Description  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohe- 
mia, 159. 
Letter  to   Mazarin  quoted,  215. 


338 


INDEX 


De  Witt,   Grand  Pensionary,    207, 

212. 

Policy  of  disintegration,  217. 

Speech  to  Charles  IL,  219. 

Statesmanship,  187. 
De  Witt,  Jacob,  197, 
Delft,  177,  195. 
Denmark,  Queen  of,  300. 
Descartes,  179. 

Correspondence     with     Princess 
Elizabeth,  290,  293. 
Digby,  Sir  Everard,  58. 
Dohna,   Christopher  von,   93,  203, 

215,  216. 
Doncaster,   Viscount,   on  Electress 

Palatine,  90,  134. 
Dorislaus,    Dr.,   agent  of  English 

Parliament,  104. 


Douglas,    Archibald,    (Earl)    in 

France,  7. 
Dover,  Treaty  of,  219,  263,  308. 

Secret  Treaty  of,  271. 
Dresnay,  Regnault  de,  35,  37. 
Drummond's  History  of  Scotland,  14. 
Dudley,  Anne,  wife  of  Col.  Schom- 

berg,  89. 
Dumbarton,  13,  16. 
Dunkirk,  Sale  of,  273. 
Dunes,  Battle  of,  214. 
Dutch:  — 

As  Representatives  of  European 
Protestantism,  186. 

Pioneers  of  Europe,  178. 

Struggle  with  Catholicism,  126. 

Truce  with  Spain,  123. 


Edward,  Prince,  (Palatine),  153. 
Elizabeth  Charlotte,  Princess  (Lise- 

lotte)  299,  300,  305,  3^5. 319. 332. 

Marries   Philip  of  Orleans,  308. 
Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  49  seqq. 

Afifianced    to    Frederic,   Elector 
Palatine,  70,  75. 

At  Combe  Abbey,  54,  160. 

At  the  Hague,  117,  126,  131,150, 
179,  292. 

At  Whitehall  59 :  festivities,  63, 64. 

Birth,  50. 

Characteristics,    57,    65,   67,   85, 
89,  loi,  107,  132,  141,  154, 160. 

Correspondents,  134. 

Death,  162. 

Departure  from  Heidelberg,  103. 

Flight  from  Prague,  116. 

Her  children,   83,   107,  120,  142, 
143,  152,  290,  291. 

Later  life,  122,  150,  155. 

Leaves  England,  76, 


Letters  to: 

—  Duke  of  Buckingham,  127. 

—  Earl  of  Carlisle,  134. 

—  James  L,  84. 

—  Laud,  148, 

—  Lord  Craven,  151. 

—  Lord  Finch,  157. 

—  Nicholas,   Secretary  to  Char- 
les IL,  155. 

—  Prince  Henry,  65. 

—  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  129, 132, 134, 

135,  139,  147- 

Marriage,  75. 

"Memoirs"  by  one  of  her  ladies,  52. 

Personal  appearance,  69. 

Poem,  61. 

Question  of  precedence,  84. 

Reception  in  Palatinate,  81. 

Returns  to  England,  158. 

Suitors,  69. 

Urges  Frederic  to  accept  Bohe- 
mian Crown,  99. 


INDEX 


339 


Elizabeth,  Princess,  Abbess  of 
Herfort  Convent,  153,  293,  294. 
Death,  313. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  Sponsor  for  Eliza- 
beth Stuart,  51. 

Emeric  seized  by  States-General,2i6. 

England : — 
Civil  War  in,  150. 
Declares  war  against  Spain,  130. 

English  Court  during  James  I.'s 
reign,  60. 

English  politics,  314,  316  seqq.^ 
324  seqq. 

Ernest  Augustus,  Elector  of  Han- 
over, 302,  309,  310. 
Bishop  of  Osnabrtick,  305. 


Death,  324. 

Foreign    policy,    308,    309,    313, 
317,  318. 

Marries  Princess  Sophia,  304. 
Erskine,  Lady  Frances,  163. 
Estouteville,  Jean  d'.  35. 
Estrades,     emissary     of    Mazarin, 

198. 
Europe  at  close  of  i6th  century,  50. 
Everet-Green,  Mrs.,  "  Lives  of  Prin- 
cesses of  England  ",  168. 

On  Mary  of  Orange,  222. 

On  Reception  of  Electress  Pala- 
tine, 81. 
Exeter,  Henrietta  Maria  at,  230. 
Exclusion  Bill,  316. 


Fayette,  Mme.  de  la,  244. 

On  Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  247. 

Story  of  Henrietta  of  Orleans  at 
Court,  252,  262. 
Ferdinand,  Archduke  of  Styria  and 

Carinthia,  92,  94. 
Alliances,  no. 
Elected  Emperor,  96. 
Ferdinand  of  Hungary,  300. 
Feuillet,  ministers  to  Henrietta  of 

Orleans,  277. 
Filleul,  Jeanne,  31,  36. 
Floyd  punished,  136. 
Fontainebleau,  Court  at,  250. 
France : — 

European  Policy,  iii. 

Scotland  and,  3  seqq. 

War  declared  with,  England,  264. 
France,  Anatole,  on  Henrietta  of 

Orleans,  263. 
Francis  William,  Cardinal  of  Wur- 

temberg,  Bishop   of  Osnabrtick, 

305- 
Frederic  IV.,  Elector  Palatine,  82. 


Frederic  V.,  Elector  Palatine:— 

Arrives  at  Whitehall,  72. 

Birth,  50,  70. 

Character,  108,  122,  125,  144,  145. 

Death,  145. 

Elected  King  of  Bohemia,  96. 

Enters  Prague,  103. 

Flight  from  Prague,  116. 

Joins  Gustavus  Adolphus,  144. 

Letters  to  Princess  Elizabeth,  74, 
112,  129,  141,  144. 

Marriage,  75. 

PoHcy,  91,  93,  96, 109;  results,  121. 

Progress   through   Moravia  and 
Silesia,  112. 

Sketch  of,  70,  79,  145. 

Territories,  79. 
Frederic  Henry  of  Orange,  133. 
Frederic  Henry,  Prince,  104, 107, 142. 

Death,  143,  152. 

Letter  to  James  I.,  142. 
Frederic  Augustus  of  Hanover,  305, 

312. 

Death,  319. 


340 


INDEX 


Frederic    Henry,    Prince,    Son   of 
William  the  Silent,  171,  179. 
Sketch  of,  180,  188. 

Friesland,  177. 


Froissart  quoted  on  Scotland,  4. 

Fronde,  234. 

Froude  on  use  of  history,  167. 


Gamache,  Cyprien  de.  Preceptor  to 

Princess  Henriette,  233,  235,  242. 
Gamaches,  Lord  of,  21. 
Gardiner,  Professor,  on  Charles  L, 

171. 
George  Lewis,  Elector  of  Hanover 

(George  L),  305,  308,  309,  324. 

Character,  319. 

Marriage,  311. 
George  William,  Duke  of  Celle:— 

Foreign  policy,  308,  309. 

Marriage,  310,  311. 

Sketch  of,  301,  306. 
Germany,  Princes  of  Northern,  125. 
Germany,   religious  parties  in,  77. 
Gibbon,  Edward,  on  Venice,  306. 
Girard,  Regnault,  Seigneur  de  Bazo- 

ges,  embassy  to  Scotland,  13. 

Narrative,  22,  24. 


Gloucester,  Duke  of:— 

At  Hague,  210. 

Birth,  318. 

Death,  221,  324. 
Goeree  Island,  140. 
Gonzague,  Princess  Anne  de,  153. 
Gourville,  conversation  with  Sophia 

Charlotte,  313. 
Gramont,  Marechal  de,  253,  256. 
Greville,  Sir  Fulk,  59. 
Groningen,  177. 
Grotius,  179. 
Guelders,  177. 

Guiche,  Comte  de,  252,  258,  260. 
Gunpowder  Plot,  58. 
Gustave,  Prince,  291. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  69. 

Death,  292. 

Lands  in  Germany,  144. 


H 


Hague,  The,  178. 
King  and  Queen  of  Bohemia  at, 
121,  131. 

Halberstadt  Bishopric,  136. 

Hanover,  301. 

Harington,  James,  Author  of  "Com- 
monwealth of  Oceana",  294,  296. 

Harington,  Lady,  54, 58, 59, 75, 82, 89. 

Harington,  Lord,  54,  59,  62,  77. 
Character,  55. 
Death,  82. 
System  of  education,  56,  61. 

Harington,  Sir  John  (Jun.),  66. 


Harington,  Sir  John  (Sen.),  67. 
Harrison,  Rev.  John,  103. 
Heenvliet     {see    Kerkhoven,   John 

Van  der). 
Heidelberg  captured,  128. 
Heidelberg,  Court  of,  82. 
Henrietta,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  229 

se^^. 

At  Villers-Cotterets,  268. 

Birth,  230. 

Burial,  282. 

Death,  279. 

Education,  234. 


INDEX 


341 


Health,  252,  254,  274. 

Her  children,  284. 

Her  friends,  244. 

Illness,  275. 

Letters  to  Charles  IL,  257,  259. 

Libels  on,  261. 

Life  at  French  Court,  250  seqq. 

Marriage,  241. 

Personal  appearance,  241. 

Political  influence,  263,  271,  273. 

Suitors,  239. 

Visits  England,  238,  270. 
Henrietta  Maria,  Princess  of  Tran- 
sylvania, 153,  293,  295. 
Henrietta  Maria,  Queen,  169,  171, 

201,  210. 

At  Convent  of  Chaillot,  294. 

At  Hague,  296. 

In  Paris,  233. 

Visits  England,  238. 
Henry  IV.,  assassinated,  69,  78. 
Henry   VL,    marries    Margaret   of 

Anjou,  30. 


Henry  VII.,  concludes  Intercursus 

Magnus   with  Archduke   Philip, 

204. 
Henry,  Count,  (of  Orange),  73. 
Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  53,  54,  63, 

64,  162. 

Character,  66. 

Death,  73. 

Letter  to  Sir  John  Harington,  66. 
Hesse-Darmstadt,     Landgrave    of, 

127. 
Holland,  177,  182,  188,  202. 

Agricultural  industries,  178. 
Hollis,  Lord,  Ambassador  of  Charles 

11.,  263. 
Honthorst,  Gerald,  295. 
Hopton,  Ralph,  118. 
Howard  of  Effingham,  Lord  Ad- 
miral, 77. 
Hungary,  123. 
Hyde,  Anne,  in  suite  of  Princess 

Mary  of  Orange,  211. 


Iburg  Castle,  305,'  306. 
Intercursus  Magnus,  provisions  of, 
204. 


Isabella  of  Scotland,  wife  of  Duke 
of  Brittany,  29. 


James  I.: — 

Assassinated,  25. 

Marries  Jane  Beaufort,  7. 

Negotiates  with  English  Govern- 
ment, II. 

Receives  Charles  VII.'s  Ambas- 
sadors, 9,  12,  14. 
James  II.: — 

Fall,  318. 

Meets  Anne  Hyde,  211. 


James  VI.  and  I.:— 

Bohemian  Policy,  109,  124,  129. 

Characteristics,  52,  68. 

On  education,  55. 
Jermyn,  Lord,  210. 
Joan  of  Arc,  11. 
John  Frederic,  Duke  of  Hanover, 

302,  303,  306,  307,  314. 

Death,  310. 

Foreign  policy,  308. 


342 


INDEX 


John   George,   Elector  of  Saxony, 

9i>  94,  91  y  Ill- 
John  of  Zweibriicken,  79. 
JoUe,  Pierre  de,  quoted,  5. 


Jonson,   Ben,   address  to  James  I., 

63. 
Jusserand,  M.,  8. 


Kennedy,  Hugh,  Embassy  to  Scot- 
land, 13. 
Kerkhoven,  John  Van  der,  Lord  of 


Heenvliet,  183,  223. 
Keroliaille,  Louise  de,  273. 
Konigsmark,  Count,  320. 


La  Bruy^re,  on  courtiers,  250. 
La  Palisse  harbour,  20. 
La  Rochefoucauld,  244. 
La    Rochelle,    Margaret    of   Scot- 
land's entry  into,  21. 
Labadie,  Jean,  294. 
Laud,  Archbishop: — 

Letter  to  Queen  of  Bohemia,  148. 

System  of  "  Thorough  ",  169,170. 
Lawder,    Edward    of,   Archdeacon 

of  Lothian,  10. 
Leibniz,  Gottfried  Wilhelm: — 

At  Hanover,  314,  321. 

Correspondence     with    Princess 
Sophia,  295. 

Epitaph    on     Electress    Sophia, 

333- 

Leyden,  177. 
Princess  Sophia  at,  290. 
Royal  Children  at,  142. 

Liancourt's  reply  to    Louis   XVI., 
174. 

Lichtoun,  Henry,  Bishop  of  Aber- 
deen, 9. 

Linschoten,  179. 

Livingston,  Lord  and  Lady,  52. 

Loevenstein    Castle,   six   members 
imprisoned  at,  197,  218. 

Loo,  Conference  at,  325. 


Lorraine,    Chevalier  de,  259,  267. 
Louis  IX.,  speech  to  his  son,  5. 
Louis  XIV.:— 

Conduct  to  Henrietta  of  Orleans, 
236,  250,  270,  274. 

Court  during  reign  of,  248. 

Dutch  policy,  265. 

European  policy,  186. 

Letter  to  Charles  11.  on  death  of 
Henrietta  of  Orleans,  280. 
Louis,  Dauphin,  de  Viennois: — 

Aflfianced  to  Margaret  of  Scot- 
land, 10. 

Marriage,  23. 

Sketch  of,  25,  42. 
Louis  of  Nassau,  Lord  of  Bever- 

waert,  184,  223. 
Louisa,  Electress  of  Brandenburg, 

195. 
Louise  Juliane,  Electress  Palatine, 

81,  85,  97,  103,  142. 
Louise,  Princess,  Abbess  of  Mau- 

buisson,   153,   293,  294,  312,  321. 
Liineburg-Celle,  301. 
Lusatia,  104. 

Saxon  troops  in,  119. 
Lutter,  Battle  of,  130. 
Liitzen,  Battle  of,  145,  292. 


INDEX 
M 


343 


Macaulay   on   Henrietta,   Duchess 

of  Orleans,  263. 
Magdeberg  Conference,  317. 
Mahan,  Captain,  on  fleet  of  Hol- 
land, 182. 
Mailld,  Lord  of,  21. 
Maintenon,  Mme.  de,  241. 
Mancini,  Marie  de,  252. 
Mannheim,  loss  of,  129. 
Mansfeld,  General,  in  Upper  Pala- 
tinate, 122,  124,  128. 

Death,  "130. 
Mar,  John  Erskine,  Earl  of,  163. 
Marche,  Olivier  de  la,  31. 
Margaret  of  Anjou,  marriage  with 

Henry  VI.,  30. 
Margaret    of    Scotland,    Princess, 

8  seqq. 

Affianced  to  Louis  the  Dauphin,  10. 

Authorities  quoted  on,  45. 

Characteristics,  27,  44. 

Death,  41. 

Illness,  39. 

Marriage,  23. 

Plot  against,  32. 

Reception  in  France,  21. 

Sets  out  for  France,  19. 

Tomb,  43. 
Maria  Louisa  of  Orleans,  marriage, 

313- 
Marie   de  Medici,  visits  England, 

170. 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  331. 
Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  154,  167 

seqq.^  296. 

Appeals  to  French  King,  215. 

Betrothed  to  William  of  Orange, 
172. 

Birth  of  her  son,  201. 

Characteristics,  195,  202,  212,  223. 

Death,  221. 


Dispute  with  Princess  Dowager, 
203,  215. 

Letter  to  Lady  L.  Drummond, 
184. 

Marriage  treaty,  173. 

Portrait,  168. 

Sketch  of,  169,  222. 

Visits  England,  220. 

Visits  Paris,  211. 
Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  162. 

Character,  332. 
Matthias,  Emperor,  78,  92,  96. 
Maurice,     Landgrave     of    Hesse- 

Cassel,  91. 
Maurice,  Prince,  120,  152,  316. 
Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  69,  80, 

97,  180. 

Conduct  to  Palatines,  121,  132. 
Maximilian  of  Bavaria,  109,  iii,  122. 
Mazarin,  Cardinal: — 

Attitude  towards  Princess  Hen- 
riette,  237. 

Imprisons  Condd,  218. 

On  Amelia,  Princess  of  Orange 
180,  182. 

Policy,  188,  190. 

Treaty  of  Paris  and,  210. 
Melville,  Andrew,  at  Falkland,  51. 
Meun,  Jean  de,  4. 
Michel,  "Ecossais  en  France",  33. 
Mignet  quoted,  191. 
Mirabeau,  maxim,  191. 
Moliere : — 

Dedication  of  I'Ecole  des  Femmes, 

245. 
Protected  by  Henrietta  of  Orle- 
ans, 244. 
Monk,  General,  218. 
Montalais,  Mile,  de,  253. 
Montausier,  Due  de,  on  the  Prince, 
250. 


344 


INDEX 


Montespan,  Mme.  de,  243. 
Montils  les  Tours,  29. 
Montpensier,  Mile,  de,  on  Henrietta 

of  Orleans'  health,  274,  277. 
Montrose  at  Hague,  297. 


Moravia,  104,  112. 

Motteville,  Mme.  de,  on  Henrietta 

of  Orleans,  262. 
Munich,  march  to,  144. 
Munster,  Treaty  of,  189. 


N 


Nancy,  Court  at,  29,  30,  32,  35. 
Naunton,  Secretary  of  State,  119. 
Navigation  Act,  206. 
Netherlands : — 

Commercial  treaty  with  Denmark, 
206. 

Constitution,  176,  202,  217. 

Influence  of  England  on,  218. 


Peace  of  Munster  and,  190. 
Struggle  against  Spain,  174. 
Nethersole,  English  Agent  at  Prague, 

Acct.  of  retreat  from  Prague,  118. 
Nicholas,  210. 
Nimburg,  117. 
Nottingham,  Earl  of,  77. 


Ogilvy,  Sir  Patrick,  9. 

Olbreuse,   El^onore  d',    (Mme.    de 

Harburg),  306,  307,  309. 

Duchess  of  Liineburg-Celle,  311. 


Orange,  Princess  Henry  of,  297. 
Orkney  Earl,  of,  22. 
Overyssel,  177. 


Palatinate,     Upper     and     Lower, 

79- 

Loss  of,  292. 

State  of,  121. 

Paris,  Treaty  of,  210. 

Pepys,   account  of  Princess  Hen- 
ri ette,  241. 

Percy,  Lady  Lucy,  57. 

Peter    the    Great,   visits   Electress 
Sophia,  323. 

Pitt,  Phineas,  67,  77. 

Philip    II.,    ruins    of    Empire   of, 
185. 

Philip  IV.,  acknowledges  indepen- 
dence of  Dutch,  189. 


Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  274. 
Death,  331. 
Demands   Princess  Henriette  in 

marriage,  238. 
Sketch  of,  246. 

PhiHp,  Prince,  (Palatine)  153. 

Platens  at  Hanover,  320. 

Pies,  Mme.  de,  governess  to  Prin- 
cess Sophia,  290. 

Poitevin,  Robert,  40. 

Poitiers,     Margaret    of    Scotland's 
reception  at,  21. 

Pollnitz,    Baron,    "Memoirs"    300, 

311. 
Potter,  Paul,  179. 


INDEX 


345 


Prague:— 
"Defenestration"  at,  94. 
Flight  from,  116. 
Frederic  and  Elizabeth  enter,  103. 
State  of,  III. 


Pregente  de  Melun,  31,  36. 
Protestant  Sects,  105, 
"Protestant  Union",  77,  79,  91,95, 
109,  121. 


Racine  dedicates  tragedy  to  Hen- 
rietta of  Orleans,  244. 

Radegonde,  Princess,  22,  30. 

Ragoczi,   Sigismund,   Prince   of 
Transylvania,  295. 

Rakonitz,  113. 

Ravestin  seized  by  States-General, 
216. 

Rees  seized  by  States-General,  216. 

Rembrandt,  179. 

Revolution  of  1688,  317. 

Rhenen,  Court  at,  155,  295. 

Richelieu : — 
Alliance    with    States-General 

against  Spain,  186. 
Anti-dynastic  policy,  170,  185. 


Attitude  towards  stage,  245. 
Richmond,  Duke  of,  134. 
Rochester,  on   death  of  Henrietta 

of  Orleans,  279. 
Rocroi,  Battle  of,  187. 
Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  129,  132,  135. 
Rotterdam,  177. 
Roxburgh,    Lady,    governess  to 

Princess  Mary,  169. 
Rudolph  Augustus,  Duke  of  Wolfen- 

biittel,  309. 
Rupert,   Prince,  107,  142,  152,  158, 

162,  229,  316. 

prisoner  in  France,  292. 
Ruysdael,  179. 


Sabld,  Mme.  de,  244. 

Saint  Chaumont,  Mme.  de,  267. 

St.  John,   English   ambassador    at 

Hague,  204. 
St.  Johnston,  15,  17. 
St.  Simon,  on  Henrietta  of  Orleans' 

death,  280. 
Salignac,   Marguerite    de,    31,    36, 

41. 
Savoy,  Duke  of,  95,  97,  no. 

Protestant  subjects  of,  217. 
Savoy,  House  of,  claim  to  English 

throne,  318,  324. 
Schomberg,  Colonel,  83,  89. 

On  Electress  Palatine.  85,  86. 


Scotch  characteristics,  4,  5. 

Scottish  Guard,  33. 

Scottish  Union  question,  326. 

Scrope,  Lord,  14. 

Scultetus,  Court  Chaplain,  82,  108. 

Seeley,    Professor,    "Age    of  the 
Cardinals",  185. 

Sevigne,  Mme.  de,  244. 

Silesia,  104,  112 

Sobieski,  John,  309. 

Soissons,  Mme.  de,  interview  with 
Henrietta  of  Orleans,  258. 

Solms,  Amelia  Countess  de.  Prin- 
cess of  Orange,  104,  133,  209. 
Character,  180. 


346 


INDEX 


Dispute    with    Princess    Royal, 

203,  215. 
Policy,  213. 

Reply  to  French  envoy,  216. 
Sophia  Charlotte,  Queen  of  Prussia, 

307,  313, 

Death,  328. 
Sophia  Dorothea,  Junr.,  324. 
Sophia  Dorothea,  Queen  of  George  I, 

307,  309.  319- 
Sophia,  Electress  of  Hanover,  153, 
289  seqq. 
At  Hague,  292. 
At  Heidelberg,  298. 
At  Herrenhausen,  320. 
Attitude  to  religion,  322. 
Attitude  towards  James  IL,  317, 

318,  319- 
Birth,  143,  290. 
Character,  332. 
Correspondence     with     Leibniz, 

295i  314,  317.  321,  325.  326. 
Death,  331. 
Description   of  Henrietta  Maria, 

296. 
Education,  295. 
Epitaph,  333. 

Her  children,  305,  307,  309. 
Literary  tastes,  324. 
Marriage,  304. 
"Memoirs",  290,  300, 303, 312, 314. 

Account  of  Court  in,  293. 
Naturalised  in  England,  327. 


Partiality  for  England,  315  seqq. 

Position   with  regard  to  English 
throne,  289. 

Suitors,  300. 

Tour  in  Italy,  306. 

Visits  France,  312,  313. 
Sophie  of  Brunswick,  140. 
Sorel,  Agnes,  29,  31,  32,  36. 
Southampton,  Earl  of,  53. 
Spain :  — 

Downfall  of,  187. 

Negotiations  with  James  I.,  in. 
Spinola:— 

Commands   in   Spanish   Nether- 
lands, III. 

Scheme  for  re-union  of  Lutherans 
and  Calvinists,  321. 
Spinoza,  179. 
Stanhope,  Lady,  wife  of  John  Van 

der   Kerkhoven,   Lord  of  Heen- 

vliet,  183,  223. 
Strafford,  Earl  of,  169. 

Administration  of  Ireland,  170. 
Strickland,  Agnes,  "Lives  of  Queens 

of  England",  168. 

On  Sophia  of  Hanover,  303. 
Strickland,  English  Ambassador  at 

Hague,  204. 
Stuart,  Lady  Arabella,  54,  63,  162. 
Stuart,     Elizabeth    {see    Elizabeth 

of  Bohemia). 
Suze,  Mme.  de  la,  268. 


Taine,     on     courtiers    of    ancien 

rigime,  248. 
Temple,   Sir  Wilham,   on  Amelia, 

Princess  of  Orange,  183. 
Theatre    in    France    during    T7th 

century,  245. 


Thirty   Years'  War,   loi,  126,  143^ 

159,  290,  298. 
Thurn,  Count,  94,  105, 108, 115, 117. 
Tillay,  Jamet  de  :— 

Evidence  against,  43. 

Plot  against  Dauphine,  32. 


INDEX 


347 


Toland,  account  of  Electress  So- 
phia, 320,  326. 

Touraine,  Due  de,  7. 

Tours,  Margaret  of  Scotland's  recep- 
tion at,  21. 


Treville,  M.,  244. 
Triple  Alliance  formed,  265,  307. 
Tuce,  Jeanne  de,  39^  41. 
Turenne,  Marshal,  244,  268. 


U 


Utrecht,  177,  197. 


Peace  of,  329. 


Valence,  Bishop  of: — 
Exiled,  267. 

Libel  on   Henrietta   of  Orleans 
and,  261. 

Valli^re,  Mile,  de  La,  251,  259. 

Van  Dyck,  portrait  of  Queen  Hen- 
rietta Maria,  296. 

Van  Sypesteyn,  letter  to  De  Witt, 
207. 

Van  Tromp,  179,  187. 
Death,  207. 


Vane,  Sir  Henry,  144. 
Vardes,  Marquis  de,  256,  259. 

Exiled,  260. 
Vend6me,  Comte  de,  22. 
Venice,  Sophia  of  Hanover  at,  306. 
Verneuil,  Battle  of,  7. 
Vienna  relieved,  309. 
Vieuville,    Duchesse    de,    masked 

ball,  260. 
Villequier,  Marguerite  de,  34. 
Vondel,  179. 


W 


Wakeman,  "Ascendency  of  France" 

quoted,  175. 
Waldsassen,  103. 
Wallenstein  :— 

Dismissed,  143. 

Imperial  army,  130. 
Waller,  attacked  at  Cheriton,  229. 
Ward,  Dr.  A.  W.,  on:— 

English  Succession,  319. 

George   William    and    Ernest 
Augustus  of  Hanover,  302. 
Westphalia,  120. 

Treaty  of,  150,  210,  298,  305. 
Weston,    English    Ambassador    at 

Prague,  114. 

Negotiations,  127,  128. 


White,  Mountain,  114. 
Whitelocke,  on:-— 

Amsterdam,  177. 

Proposed  Alliance  between  Ne- 
therland  and  England,  205. 
William,  Duke,   founder  of  House 

of  Liineburg,  301. 
WiUiam  III.:— 

Birth,  201. 

Character,  225. 

Conference  at  Loo,  325. 

Death,  326. 

Education,  220. 

Elected  Stadtholder  of  Zealand, 
207. 

Intrigues,  316,  317. 


348 


INDEX 


William  Frederick  of  Nassau,  Count, 

Stadtholder    of   Friesland,     185, 

206,  209. 

Advice  to  William  of  Orange,  196. 
William,  Prince  of  Orange,  170. 

Betrothed  to  Princess  Mary,  172. 

Death,  199. 

Plot  to  capture  Amsterdam,  197. 

Policy,  189,  192,  195,  199. 

Sketch  of,  173,  200. 


William  the  Silent,  175. 
Wladislaus  VII.  of  Poland,  294. 
Wolfenbiittel,  120. 
Woodstock,  Court  at,  71. 
Worcester,  Battle  of,  207. 
Wotton,  Sir  Henry:— 

At  Heidelberg,  88. 

Letter  to  Queen  of  Bohemia,  134. 

Lyric  on  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  47. 
Wren,  Bishop  of  Ely,  172. 


Yolande    of    Aragon,     Queen    of  |  York,  Cardinal,  death,  292. 
Sicily,  22. 


Zealand,  177,  178. 


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